Sit Vis Tecum
by Callista Rose
Summary: An American witch is forced to move to England and go to Hogwarts as a transfer student. There, she meets Lily and the Marauders. Chaotic fun ensues, but everyone is hiding something... Rating for mild vulgar humor. CHAPTER 10 UP! mildly JPLE more late
1. Changes

DISCLAIMER: Anything that you recognize, including quotes, belong to JKR and other people. Everything else belongs to me!  
  
This is my first fic..enjoy! Remember to R/R  
  
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Sit Vis Tecum-Chapter 1  
  
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Sara O'Hanlon looked out of her bedroom window at the seemingly perfect little neighborhood that surrounded her. The houses were huge, mansions, she guessed. But then again, the house that she now lived in wasn't a whole lot different from the others. Not on the outside, at least. The internal troubles in this house, though, were definitely comparable to the rest of the neighbors'. Sara didn't want to think about that right now, though. It was way too early to be depressed.  
  
She let out a sigh, tucked a loose strand of her shoulder-length auburn hair behind her ear, and tore the gaze of her blue-green eyes away from the window to face her bedroom. The white walls seemed desolate, lacking the posters and pennants that had once plastered the walls in her old bedroom so much that it had been nearly impossible to see the lavender-painted walls. She looked around the room. The stacks of brown packing boxes didn't exactly add to the décor much, and the only piece of furniture that had been unpacked was her bed, sitting, lonely, in the corner, deprived of the miscellaneous stuffed toys that had inhabited it before. Sara sighed again. The stuffed animals, along with her posters and pennants, were inside one of the two dozen boxes lining the walls.  
  
Sara only noticed that she was crying when she felt a tear running down her cheek. Great, she told herself, now she would have to wash her face again before she went downstairs. She looked at her watch. It was nearly eight- thirty, and she would have to leave any minute. She opened the door that led to the bathroom off of her bedroom and went inside. She splashed cold water on her face, and dried it with a towel.  
  
"Sara, honey," she heard a voice call from downstairs. It was Virginia O'Hanlon, her grandmother. "It is almost time to go."  
  
"Alright, grandma, I'll be down in one minute," Sara called back. She did a quick cross-check of her outfit in the mirror: a nice mint green sweater and flared khaki corduroys. She checked her hair, which was down with little sections pulled back in clips. She wore no makeup. What was the purpose anyway? It's not like any boy would be interested in her, anyway. She sighed a third time. She hated the idea of starting at a new school, especially one that she knew would be very tight-knit. She turned away from the mirror and left the bathroom and her bedroom. On the way out of her bedroom, she grabbed a brass birdcage. The small owl inside gave a hoot of disapproval, ruffling her feathers irritably.  
  
"Sorry, Athena," Sara said apologetically to her owl, "but we have to go. Unless you want to stay here all alone while I'm at school." From the look in her owl's unusually blue eyes, she wanted to stay with Sara. Sara carried the cage down the wide, sweeping staircase and into the kitchen, where her grandmother was waiting. She put down Athena's cage and gave her grandmother a kiss. "Good morning, grandma."  
  
"Good morning, dear. Well, we should be off. Do you have everything that you'll need?"  
  
"Yes, it's all in my trunk," Sara replied, glancing around for her trunk. She had put it in the kitchen when she had come down for breakfast earlier, and it seemed to have disappeared.  
  
"Oh, yes," Virginia replied, "William and Martin carried it out to the car already. If your owl is the only thing left that you need, we should be off." William O'Hanlon was Sara's grandfather, and Martin was the family butler. Sara nodded in agreement. She carried Athena's cage out of the kitchen and through the door to the garage where the car was waiting. Her grandfather was already sitting inside, behind the wheel. Her grandmother came out of the garage door behind Sara, and got into the passenger's seat next to her husband. As Sara was loading Athena into the back seat of the white Mercedes, she caught sight of Martin behind her. Martin was tall, thin and balding, but Sara loved him. He was just a fun guy to be around; always telling stories and jokes. It was hard not to get along with him.  
  
"Going off to school now, are we?" Martin asked jauntily.  
  
"Yes. Going to miss me?"  
  
"Nope. I'm throwing a party as soon as you get on that train," he joked. "Of course I'm going to miss you. Coming back for Christmas, at least?"  
  
"You bet." Sara gave him a hug, and hopped into the car, pulling the door closed behind her. She rolled down the window.  
  
"Hey, unfair! I'm supposed to close the doors!" Martin joked. "Have a good term, Sara. Be yourself, and you'll be fine."  
  
"Goodbye Martin," Sara waved as the car backed out of the driveway. When the house disappeared from view, Sara leaned back against the seat and exhaled, gazing out at the passing houses.  
  
The ride to the train station was a little over an hour, but it was all in silence. Well, Virginia and William chattered a bit, but Sara didn't want to join the conversation. She just sat back, and spent the whole ride deep in thought.  
  
The first signs of a peculiar life came when she had been 10 years old. It had been the last day of July, and she was swimming in the pool at her best friend's house when it started. She had been diving for pennies with her best friend, Ariana, when her father had called her back to her house. There had been a sense of urgency in his voice that Sara couldn't ignore. She remembered reluctantly climbing out of the pool (with promises that she'd come back later), grabbing her towel, and running across the street to her house. She had walked into her kitchen and seen both of her parents seated at the kitchen table, with indescribable looks on their faces. Her father held a thick parchment envelope in his hand.  
  
So that fall, at age 10, Sara started her magical education in a school in Oregon, USA called the Beaumore Academy for Young Sorcerers (a/n at this school, they start at age 10). Her magical education continued, and she was quite happy. She loved everything about the magical world. Her parents were fascinated, as well. Sara later learned that she was a muggle- born, as neither her mother nor her father was magical. Life was good, until summer came five years later.  
  
Sara's father, Rodney, and his wife Maria had gone out to a fancy dinner party one night. It was an executive party, for the members of the muggle FBI and their spouses. There was elegant food, fine wine and dancing. Rodney and Maria had been careful not to drink too much, as they would have to drive themselves home. While they were at the party, Sara, now 15, had been eating popcorn and watching old movies on TV with Ariana (who, she found out, also had received a letter from Beaumore that same day as she had). As midnight neared, Rodney and Maria left the party fully sober, and had driven home. On the way onto the freeway, however, a semi with a drunk driver hit their car at 65 miles per hour. Both had been killed on impact.  
  
Sara remembered when the two policemen had knocked on her door in the middle of My Fair Lady. She had gotten up to answer the door, Ariana at her heels. She saw them standing there and her heart had dropped. She had sensed the worst when the men had taken off their hats out of respect. Those officers had stayed with her that night, and eventually Ariana and her parents came over, too. The big question after that had been 'what now?'  
  
After numerous phone calls, a social worker had found that Sara's grandmother and grandfather had been appointed Sara's legal guardians before her mother and father died. That day, a flight had been booked to England for her. She was frightened, as she had never flown before. She packed what she needed in two suitcases: the rest, she had been told, would be shipped over. She flew to England to meet her grandparents (whom she'd never met before in her life) and went to live with them.  
  
Upon her arrival at the O'Hanlon mansion, as Sara called it, an owl had dropped a thick envelope into the mailbox. The letter, it turned out, was from a school of witchcraft called Hogwarts. As it turned out, her grandparents knew nothing about her magical abilities. The letter explained everything: what it meant for Sara to be magical, how to get her school supplies, and how to get her to the train station.  
  
Sara felt the Mercedes stop, and heard the engine stop. She came out from her daydream, and she looked up at her grandparents. All of these events happened just a month ago. Sara wanted to sigh, but she bit her lip. This was too much change way too fast. She looked at the sign that was attached to the huge brick building: KING'S CROSS STATION. She was here.  
  
"I'll go get a trolley for your trunk, Sara." William volunteered. He went off to get the trolley. Virginia leaned over toward Sara.  
  
"I would have made him go get one anyways," she said softly to Sara. She smiled. "Remember, Sara. The man might be the head of the household, but the woman is the neck, and she can get the head to turn any way she wants it to." Both of them burst out laughing.  
  
"Hey, what's so funny?" William asked. He was pushing a trolley and wearing a very confused expression.  
  
"Nothing dear, let's get Sara's trunk out of the car."  
  
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"Okay, so..what platform are you supposed to be at, dear?" Ten minutes later, it was a quarter till ten, and the group was pretty much clueless.  
  
"The ticket says platform nine and three-quarters." William held a map, scratching his head. Though he was old, he wasn't showing any signs of going bald.  
  
"Well, there's no platform nine and three-quarters marked anywhere on this map." Sara had the urge to roll her eyes. Of course it wouldn't be on the map. Not unless they wanted muggles to find it and come wandering in. That would cause mayhem in the magical world.  
  
"Grandma, I am going to use the loo," Sara told her grandmother. She wandered off to find the restroom. Reading the signs, she found her way through the unusually crowded train station. She turned a corner and.  
  
WHACK!  
  
Sara hit something, hard, and she was thrown backward onto the floor. Looking around in confusion, she saw a boy about her age rubbing his head about ten feet away from her. She was also aware that a lot of people were starting. The boy got up and muttered something that sounded very much like "Muggles." He came over to Sara and offered her a hand.  
  
"Sorry about that. Let me help you up," he said, smiling. Sara took his hand and got up off of the ground. Passersby went back to what they were doing, no longer paying attention to Sara and the boy. Sara leaned in toward him and said in a low voice,  
  
"I'd be careful about what you say around here. People would get suspicious." She thoroughly enjoyed the effects of these words. The boy's hazel eyes got very round, and his black hair, which was quite unruly, seemed to stand up more than was natural.  
  
"Sorry about that," he repeated. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm James Potter," he said, outstretching a hand. Sara took it.  
  
"Sara O'Hanlon, nice to meet you," She said, shaking his hand.  
  
"Do you go to Hogwarts, too?"  
  
"Well, I guess you could say that. I am starting this year." This earned her a puzzled look from the boy.  
  
"Really? You look older than a first year."  
  
"I'm not a first year. I'm starting my fifth year, it's just that I moved to England and had to transfer to Hogwarts." The boy opened his mouth a little, as if he was about to ask why she had moved. Sara sensed this, and she spoke quickly. "I really must be going now." She turned to leave, and started walking back.  
  
"Hey, Sara!" She turned, and saw James making his way towards her. "Do you know how to get onto the platform?" Sara laughed a little.  
  
"Actually, no, I don't," she said, feeling rather foolish now. "Would you mind telling me?"  
  
"If you want, I can come with you and show you." Sara felt relief flood her body.  
  
"That'd be great. Thanks a lot."  
  
"No problem," James said. "Now, where are your folks?" Sara automatically replied  
  
"My grandparents brought me. They are over by platform ten." She wasn't sure that just coming out and saying 'oh, they are dead' wouldn't be the most intelligent thing in the world to do. She lead him to where Virginia and William were standing. They both looked at her, extremely puzzled.  
  
"Grandma, Grandpa, this is James Potter," she told them. They shook hands with James, exchanging 'Pleased to meet you's. "James, these are my grandparents, William and Virginia O'Hanlon. James is going to show us where platform nine and three-quarters is."  
  
"Well, that's a relief," William declared. "It seems like we've been wandering around here for ages!"  
  
"Honestly, William! It's only been a quarter of an hour!" Virginia exclaimed. "So, young man, where is this platform nine and three-quarters, anyway?"  
  
"It's right over here," James told her, leading them all past a swarm of muggles hurrying to catch their trains. William pushed the trolley, which now had Athena's brass cage held securely atop the trunk with a leather strap. They came to a stop right in front of a brick wall. The signs that hung on either side told Sara that this was the barrier between platforms nine and ten.  
  
"Okay," James said. "Now all you have to do is run straight at the barrier. The train to Hogwarts will be waiting on the other side." This statement earned looks of extreme skepticism from both William and Virginia. Their faces showed exactly what Sara was feeling, though she didn't have the heart to look at James like a lunatic, as he had been so kind before. James saw these looks and, though he had the urge to roll his eyes at the sight of them, he chose instead to back up a little ways from the barrier.  
  
"Alright, then. Watch me first, and watch carefully. You can follow behind me." With that, James took a breath and ran forward at full speed towards the barrier. It looked extremely solid to Sara, who was bracing herself for the thud that would tell her that James had cracked his skull open. Nevertheless, she watched as he neared the barrier. He was an inch from it, and suddenly, he wasn't there at all. Sara blinked.  
  
"Well, then. Grandpa, may I have the trolley?"  
  
"Sara, dear, you aren't going to go through with that are you? That is insanity!" William handed her the trolley anyway. Sara gave the barrier a determined look. She straightened the trolley and planted her feet firmly in the ground.  
  
"I'll see you on the other side!" And with that, she lowered her head and pushed the trolley as hard as she could. She was running, nearing the barrier faster. She was beginning to regret doing this, but she couldn't stop now, so she squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself, waiting for the impact. When it didn't come, she opened her eyes, and a wondrous sight met them.  
  
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Aaaaaaa! A cliffie! You will just have to wait for the next chapter to come out now! While you are waiting, you can go ahead and write a REVIEW!!! What a great idea! When you are writing the review, be honest. Praise will be welcomed, and flames will be used to burn my religion book. Stick around for chapter two! 


	2. Goodbye and Hello

DISCLAIMER-Anything that you recognize belongs to either JKR or someone else. Everything else belongs to me, especially Sara, Athena, Virginia and William, plus any other OC's you see in this chapter.  
  
ATTENTION READERS: In the future of this story, I am going to need some new characters (particularly Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Slytherins of the same year..) so I'm giving you all a chance to PUT YOURSELF IN THE STORY!!!! Just send in your name (full name), house choice, physical description, any pets you may have, family info and background info with your REVIEW. I'll choose the ones I think will fit the best (not necessarily the most perfect ones!) and write them into the story. Mind you, they probably won't be major characters, but I'll try to fit in at least 10 of them, possibly 15, if I get that many. Otherwise, Lily (my sister) and I will make them up ourselves! Now, on to chapter 2 of our story.  
  
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Sit Vis Tecum-Chapter 2  
  
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Sara looked around. What she saw totally took her breath away.  
  
She was standing on another platform. This one was packed with people and bustling with activity. She saw that a wrought-iron sign hung over her head.  
  
"Platform Nine and three-quarters," she whispered, her voice filled with awe. Over on the tracks sat a scarlet steam engine, smoke issuing from it in little puffs. On the platform, she could see a girl hugging her little sister goodbye and promising to her parents that she would be good. She saw two boys lifting a trunk onto the train. Further down the platform, she caught sight of a group of boys and girls hugging one another, finally reunited after the long summer.  
  
"I see you've made it through all right," Sara heard from behind her. She turned around to face the speaker.  
  
"Yes, James. Thank you for the advice."  
  
"Have your grandparents made it through, yet?"  
  
"No, not yet. I don't think that they were too willing to try to go through. I hope they come, eventually, though." James glanced quickly over his shoulder. A boy with shaggy black hair was waving to him.  
  
"Hey, Sara, I've gotta run. Catch you later!"  
  
"See you," she replied. He turned on his heel and disappeared through the crowd. She looked down, realizing that she still had her trunk with her. Pushing the trolley closer to the train, she took Athena's cage, stepped onto the train, and put the cage down on a seat in an empty compartment. Stepping back outside, she dragged her heavy trunk off of the trolley and attempted to lift it onto the train. She had no luck whatsoever.  
  
"Need some help with that?" Sara jumped, startled. She turned around. A boy stood behind her, with chestnut-brown hair and dark eyes.  
  
"Yes, thanks. It didn't seem this heavy when I packed it," Sara told the boy. Together, the two of them heaved the trunk onto the train and into an empty slot on the luggage rack. "Thanks again. My name is Sara, by the way. Sara O'Hanlon." She stuck out her hand.  
  
"Connor Hawke, pleased to meet you," the boy said, shaking her hand. "Hope to see you around at Hogwarts." Sara nodded and Connor left the compartment. She hopped off of the train into the sunshine and caught sight of her grandparents waving at her. Her face split into a wide grin as she ran over to meet them.  
  
"You made it!" Sara said excitedly. Her grandmother laughed.  
  
"Yes, dear. At first we thought it was all nonsense, then we changed our minds. We did want to say goodbye, after all."  
  
Sara looked at the big clock hanging on the wall. It was 10:46. She had nearly fifteen minutes. She looked up at her grandparents.  
  
"I guess I'll see you later, then," she told them. Virginia gave her a big hug. Sara hugged her back.  
  
"You'll be fine, sweetheart," William said as he hugged Sara tightly. "Don't you forget to write us lots of letters."  
  
"You will have to get used to owls, then," Sara said, raising her eyebrows. "You sure you can do that?" William laughed.  
  
"For you, Sara, anything."  
  
"You are coming to visit for Christmas, then, right?" Virginia asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"You be good, Sara," William told her  
  
"Aren't I always?"  
  
"Good girl," he said, giving her a kiss on the top of the head. The train whistled loudly: five minutes until departure. Sara looked at them, somewhat hoping that they would take her away from this strange place. She wanted to go back to her old school, Beaumore Academy for Young Sorcerors, not to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Even the name sounded dumb to her. Sara felt a tear run down her cheek. She wished she could stop crying.  
  
"Sara," Virginia said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "don't worry about it. Just be the pretty, smart, and funny girl that you are, and you'll get along just fine."  
  
The whistle sounded again: four minutes. She gave her grandparents one last hug.  
  
"I love you both," she said. William hugged her again.  
  
"We love you, too," he said. Virginia also threw her arms around Sara.  
  
"Dear, try not to break too many boys' hearts!" she whispered in Sara's ear. They both giggled.  
  
"I won't," she promised. She glanced back at the train. The last passengers were hopping aboard. Some leaned out of the open windows and waved goodbye to their parents and young siblings. She turned back to her grandparents. "Goodbye. I promise to write at least once a week."  
  
"Goodbye, darling, and good luck." Sara turned and dashed towards the train, stepping up into the compartment. She was met by a ruffled Athena, who was looking at her with an expression of utmost discontent. Sara shifted the cage and sat down close to the window. She could see her grandparents out the window. They were waving at her. She waved back. The train's whistle sounded three times. Sara looked out and saw that the train had begun to move. She waved at her grandparents, who blew her kisses. She watched them as the train sped faster and faster, until it turned and they disappeared from view.  
  
Sara sat back against the seat and sighed. Here she was, on her way to a new school, starting her fifth year. She wrinkled her nose. At Beaumore, she would be beginning the sixth grade. There, young witches and wizards began their magical education at age 10, as first-graders. Sara would be starting her sixth year of her magical education. It was weird, having to repeat the fifth year.  
  
Sara opened the small hinge on Athena's cage and took the owl out of the cage. Athena was small, perhaps only eleven inches tall. She had beautiful cream-colored plumage that was speckled with tan patches. Athena nipped at Sara's finger affectionately, and Sara began to absent-mindedly stroke her feathers and let her mind wander. Not surprisingly, Sara's mind wandered all the way back home, tens of thousands of miles away. She wondered what Ariana and all of her old friends were up to, as school always began on the fourth of September back home. She missed Ariana, and decided that she would write her a letter, just to pass the time. The train ride would be eight hours long, anyhow.  
  
Sara placed Athena gently back into the brass cage and closed the door. Standing up, she went in search of her shoulder-bag, which lay locked in her trunk. She found her trunk in a luggage rack and crouched down.  
  
"Aperare," she whispered, causing the lock to spring open. After fishing around in her trunk, she came up with a bit of parchment and a muggle pen. She hated quills, and wasn't very good with them, anyway. Closing and re- locking her trunk, she found her way back to her seat in the empty compartment. She took the cap off of the pen and began to write:  
  
Dear Ariana,  
  
How is it back home? I am currently sitting on a train on the way to my new school. It is called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry-what a name! I miss you and everyone back home. Everything here is strange, including the people. They aren't mean or anything, just foreign. I am not used to the accent, the new money, anything. I want to co-  
  
CRASH!  
  
Sara looked up in alarm. She put down her pen and parchment and stood up, wandering close to the door. She heard a stampede of footsteps, and some shouting. Sara turned away from the door and sat down once more. She placed the pen and unfinished letter back into her shoulder-bag under the seat, and pulled out one of her new schoolbooks. She might as well become familiar with her textbooks, as she did have seven and a half more hours to spend on this train. She looked at the title of the book: The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5. She was about to flip open the cover when she heard the compartment door slide open. Sara looked over at the source of the noise.  
  
A girl of about her age with long, red hair and bright green eyes stood in the doorway. She peered into the compartment and, upon seeing that its only occupant was Sara, came into the compartment. She stayed close to the door of the compartment.  
  
"Do you mind if some of my friends come and sit in this compartment for the rest of the ride?" she asked Sara.  
  
"No, not at all." The girl let out a relieved sigh. She leaned her head out into the corridor.  
  
"It's okay, guys. This compartment is almost empty-only one other person. Come on," she spoke quietly, gesturing with her hand for the people in the corridor to follow her. The girl opened the compartment door a little bit wider and five students who looked the same age as the red-haired girl trooped in. First came a tan, slim girl with long, shiny black hair and dark eyes. Following her was a boy with short, sandy brown hair and gray eyes, closely trailed by a girl with light brown hair and gray eyes. Two boys followed them: one had clean, neat black hair that was almost shoulder-length and blue eyes, and the last boy, one that Sara recognized, with black hair that stuck out at every angle, was none other than James Potter. James slid the compartment door shut behind him. He turned around, and immediately saw Sara.  
  
"So we meet again, Sara," he said, walking over to her and sitting down in the seat opposite her. The girl with the red hair stepped forward.  
  
"Wait, you two know each other? This is great! James, aren't you going to introduce us?"  
  
"Of course," he said. "Right. Everybody, this is Sara O'Hanlon. She is in the same year as we are. Sara," he continued, "that dork over there with the long hair is Sirius Black, the girl standing next to him is Arabella Figg. That boy there is Remus Lupin, and that girl with brown hair is his twin sister Rena." Sara smiled at them all. "Oh, and this," gesturing to the red-haired girl, "is my girlfriend Lily Thompson." (a/n I know that her ln is Evans..but I have an idea and it involves Lily with a fake ln. You'll find out later in the story)  
  
"Hello Sara," Lily said. "I've never seen you around here before. What house are you in?"  
  
"Ummm." Sara said. She noticed that everyone was looking at her. She began to feel a lot more uncomfortable than she already was. Six pairs of eyes; she was going to hyperventilate in a moment. "I-I don't know what house I'm in yet. I just moved to England and so I had to switch schools."  
  
"Where'd you move from?"  
  
"The United States."  
  
"Cool," the brown-haired girl, Rena, said. "Did you go to Salem? I have a cousin who goes there."  
  
"No," Sara answered, feeling more confident now. "I went to Beaumore."  
  
"Oh," Rena said, "I've never heard of that. Where is it?"  
  
"It's in the Northwestern US, in Oregon." Everyone was giving Sara blank stares. "Just north of California," she explained. A few of them nodded. Sara hated when people talked about her. She wanted desperately to change the subject. "So, what brings all of you into this compartment?" Sirius, James and Remus exchanged grins.  
  
"Well," James explained, "Remus, Sirius and I, plus our other friend Peter, sort of 'let go' of a couple of dungbombs a couple of compartments over."  
  
"And now all the people in that compartment are trying to hunt us down," said Remus.  
  
"So we are seeking refuge in this lonely little compartment," Sirius finished.  
  
"These three," Lily said, gesturing towards James, Sirius, and Remus, "are always getting into trouble like that. Sirius is even trying to break the school record for 'Most Detentions Received in One's Career at Hogwarts,' or something like that. The three of them, plus their other friend, Peter, like to call themselves the Marauders." "You better believe it," said Sirius, "There are no bigger troublemakers at Hogwarts." Sara smiled a little. She had started to relax a bit. She turned and looked out the window. It was getting dark, and the passing trees seemed to be thicker and taller.  
  
"So, Sara, your last name is O'Hanlon?" Sara turned around to face Lily and nodded. "That's, what, Irish?"  
  
"Yes, my dad's grandfather came to the US from Ireland a long time ago." The group nodded, somewhat approvingly. Sara noticed Lily and James looking at each other, as if they were communicating without speaking.  
  
"So you're a muggle-born, then?"  
  
"Yes, what of it?" Sara had heard of people that think muggle-borns are scum. She hoped that these kids would be kind about it.  
  
"Nothing," said James. "Lily's muggle-born, too." Lily smiled at Sara. So the group began to talk, rather, the Marauders and the girls began to talk, with Sara listening intently and interjecting comments where they fit. Hours went by. With two hours left in the journey, Sara changed into her new Hogwarts robes. She noticed that hers were different from everyone else that she'd met: hers had the Hogwarts emblem on the breast, while the others had the Gryffindor crest on their robes. Arabella noticed Sara worrying about this.  
  
"Don't worry about it," she said softly. This was the first time that she had heard Arabella speak. "When you get Sorted, you will get a tie, and a scarf and patch on your robes, too." Sara smiled at her.  
  
Before long, there was half an hour until their arrival at Hogsmeade Station. The others left to change into their robes and get their things together, leaving Sara alone. She slipped her shoulder-bag back into her trunk and locked it. Sinking into her seat, she slipped Athena out of her cage and ran her hand down the owl's back. It was really a very comforting thing. Athena nipped Sara's finger again, and Sara held the owl at eye- level.  
  
"Wish me luck, Athena," she said. Athena hooted softly in reply, ruffling her cream-colored feathers. All of a sudden, the train began to slow. Sara gently slid Athena back into the brass cage and closed the hinged door. When the train had pulled all the way into the station, Sara stood up and carried Athena's cage to the door. She felt someone grab her arm and she whirled around. It was Lily.  
  
"Hey.I thought you might not know where to go, so I'm here to help you out," she said, grinning. "The first thing is that you are supposed to leave your belongings on the train, and they will be brought to your dormitory. That includes your owl. Sara set Athena down on top of her suitcase and followed Lily out of the train and into the crown of students streaming out of the train. She heard a giant of a man calling, "Firs' years, this way." Lily led her out of the train station and to a cobblestone road, where a line of horseless carriages were waiting. The carriages seemed to be transporting students to the Hogwarts castle.  
  
Somehow, Lily found Rena and Arabella among the crowd. The four of them climbed into a carriage together. The carriages were small, lit by a lantern hanging from the ceiling (with one small window on either side) and smelt faintly of hay and mold. The ride to the castle was silent for Sara, though the other three girls chattered away. They pulled up to the stone steps that led to the front door of the castle and clambered out of the carriages. Sara took a deep breath as she climbed the stairs.  
  
"So," she said to Rena, who was right beside her, "anything I should know before I walk in there?"  
  
"Have fun," she answered, giving Sara a big smile. Taking a deep breath, Sara followed the current of students flooding through the great oak doors into the castle.  
  
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I know, I know.I'm a terrible person for leaving you all on the edge like that..but I had to stop somewhere!  
  
Thank you soooo much to lily, my one and only reviewer sniff. This anonymous reviewer told me to write more..and I did.so there.  
  
REMEMBER. I need you guys to PUT YOURSELVES INTO THE STORY!!!! I promise that I will somehow incorporate your character, if I get the description before I write the next chapter.  
  
That's all for now! See you in chapter 3!!! 


	3. Differences

DISCLAIMER-If you recognize it, then I don't own it. I own all of my OC's and the plot.  
  
ATTENTION READERS: Once again I am calling upon you for help. I have already posted this message previously, but I need characters! I am just about out of space for Ravenclaw girls.I need three more Ravenclaw boys, plus Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. If you yourself do not want to be included in this story as anything but a Gryffindor, maybe you could submit the profile of a sibling or friend who could be in Slytherin or Hufflepuff. Also, please note that Lily and I (who choose which profiles go in the story) like characters with problems.they are just more exciting to write about than perfect people. Character flaws are good! Now.on with the story!  
  
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Sit Vis Tecum-Chapter 3  
  
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The great oak doors were open, and Sara stepped inside the entrance hall. She felt her jaw drop in awe. This place was magnificent. The hall was so big that she was sure that a whole house could fit inside it, with room to spare. The smooth, gray stone walls were lit with flaming torches, and she saw hundreds of enchanted candles floating overhead. The roof was so high that Sara had a hard time making out the ceiling. She saw a suit of armor off to the left waving at the arriving students. In front of them she saw a grand marble staircase leading, Sara assumed, to the upper floors of the castle. All of the students were heading through a door off to the right, and she was being swept with the current.  
  
"Sara O'Hanlon!" Sara quickly pulled herself from the crowd and looked at who was calling her name. A witch, who looked to be around thirty years old, wearing an emerald cloak and a stern expression, called to her again. Sara pushed through more people as she headed towards the staircase where the witch was standing. "Miss O'Hanlon?"  
  
"Yes ma'am," Sara replied. The woman looked at her and nodded approvingly. Sara noticed that she had black hair that was drawn up into a tight bun, and dark eyes.  
  
"Follow me, please," The witch led Sara up the staircase and to the left. After that, Sara didn't remember much, as she was too fascinated by her surroundings to pay attention to where they were going. Sara was used to the moving paintings, as Beaumore had had a few of those, but Sara had never before waved at a suit of armor and seen it wave back. They came to a halt in the middle of a hallway. It took Sara a minute to realize why.  
  
Hovering in midair was a ghost, translucent, a squat little man with a devilish expression on his face. He carried an armful of water balloons.  
  
"Ahhhh, hello," he said to Sara, "I've never seen you before." Sara wasn't quite sure what to say next. The witch said something instead.  
  
"Peeves, I'm warning you." At this, the squat little ghost began to cackle.  
  
"Warning me?" he said, donning a tone of fake innocence. "What was I going to do?" He began to cry. "You always blame everything on me!" The crying stopped abruptly. "Well, then. Maybe I will give you a reason to blame things on me," he cackled evilly, throwing a water balloon at Sara. She jumped out of the way and the balloon exploded a few feet behind her, spewing water everywhere. Peeves cackled again, cursing as he zoomed away.  
  
"Goodness," the witch said, brushing water from her cloak. "My office is just over here." She led Sara through a door to the left, started a fire in the fireplace, and sat down behind her desk. "Please, sit down," she said, indicating a chair in front of the desk. Sara sat down and looked around the office.  
  
"So, Miss O'Hanlon, from what I hear, you've had a very rough summer." Sara nodded, and the witch continued talking. "I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, I teach transfiguration here at Hogwarts. Now, to the point. You need to be Sorted into a House. The four Houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, Under normal circumstances, you would have been sorted as a first-year at the Welcoming Feast, but this is not a normal circumstance. What the headmaster and I have decided to do is have you sorted before the first years arrive at the school. All you will need to do is place our Sorting Hat over your head and it will tell you which house you belong in. Now, do you have any questions?" Sara thought for a minute.  
  
"No."  
  
"Alright, then. Now we are going to go back to the Great Hall to the feast. I expect our first years will be arriving soon, so we should get back." Professor McGonagall stood up and ushered Sara out of the office. They retraced their steps and Sara found herself standing on the marble staircase again, where she saw the last of the older students heading into the Great Hall. The door closed with a 'wwhhhump' sound, and Sara stood alone with Professor McGonagall in the entrance hall.  
  
"Now, Miss O'Hanlon," Professor McGonagall told her. "When I introduce you, you will walk all the way to the front of the Great Hall, sit on the stool, and place the Sorting Hat on your head. After you are Sorted, go to your house table and sit down to enjoy the feast. I must be off now. Good luck," and she was off through the doors to the Great Hall. Sara noticed that the drone of voices had ceased. Once the door had closed, Sara crept over to them. She could hear Professor McGonagall's voice addressing the students.  
  
"Attention students. Welcome back to Hogwarts. I'm sure you are all eager to get on with the Sorting, but I have an announcement to make. This year, we have a new student joining us on our quest for magical education. She is starting the fifth year and has moved here all the way from the United States of America to join our ranks. She will be sorted prior to the sorting of the new first years. So, without further ado," Sara was so nervous, she began to shake. "Miss Sara O'Hanlon!"  
  
Sara opened a door and entered the Great Hall. The place was magnificent. Four long tables sat side-by-side; the house tables, she presumed. Thousands of tiny glimmering candles floated above the tables. Everything was extraordinarily bright. At the front of the hall stood another long table, where all older witches and wizards sat: the teacher's table. At the center of this table sat an elderly man with a long, white beard and a pointed wizard's hat. Sara noticed that his pale blue eyes twinkled merrily. Just in front of the head table sat a three-legged stool and a very old looking wizard's hat. Professor McGonagall stood next to the stool, holding a sheaf of parchment in one hand and looking anxiously at Sara.  
  
Sara suddenly had become aware that her feet were carrying her up to the front of the room against their will. She was also troubled by the fact that, it seemed, every soul in the room had turned their eyes to her. Sara tried to stand up straight and hold her head higher. She would have tuned out the noise if not for the fact that there was none. A pin drop could have easily sounded the same as an airplane taking off in this room. She looked up and saw that she was almost at the stool.  
  
Sara stopped in front of the stool where the hat sat. Professor McGonagall plucked the hat off of the stool by the top, and held it up, off to the left. She smiled at Sara, indicating that she should sit down. Sara slid onto the three-legged stool, trying to remember to keep her back straight. She looked ahead of her, at the four tables all lined up, wondering which she would join. She saw the countless students, wearing pointed hats and staring at her, no doubt questioning who she was. She briefly caught sight of Lily, James, and the gang, who grinned at her. She began to grin back, when the sorting hat was placed on her head. The hat was so large that it fell down over Sara's eyes, and her world was plunged into darkness.  
  
At first she was only aware of a strange smell, almost a scent of mothballs, though she did not quite know why. She wondered why nothing was happening.  
  
"AHHH." a voice said. The voice seemed to be coming from the hat itself. "Oh, a transfer student.I haven't Sorted one of those in a while now." Sara tried to stay still and silent. "Now what shall I do with you? Your intellect and wit stick out the most to me.looks like you have a thirst for knowledge.you have courage, I see, and a loyal, kind and just heart. Ahh, but you seem to have suffered a tragedy recently which has dampened your courage.yes, you are a tough one, you are.hmmm.you do seem to have plenty of courage, but you need to discover it..so I think that I will put you in RAVENCLAW!"  
  
Sara heard the hat shout this last word aloud to the entire Hall. All at once, the hat was lifted off of her head and she was met with the cheering and clapping of her schoolmates. Sara hopped down from the stool and glanced around, suddenly aware that she has no idea of the table she should be at. She looks up and suddenly notice that there are banners hung above each of the tables that weren't there before. A banner depicting a raven hung over the table at the far left of the room. This, Sara noticed, was also the table whose occupants had been cheering the loudest. She found her way to the table, and walked along it, looking for a place to sit.  
  
"You can sit here, if you like," Sara whirled around. A girl of about her age, with short, wavy dark-blond hair and hazel eyes smiled, indicating an empty space next to her.  
  
"Thank you," Sara told the girl as she sat down next to her. "I'm Sara, by the way." The girl laughed a little.  
  
"Yes, I don't imagine there is one person here now who doesn't know your name, after McGonagall announced it to the whole school! I'm Paige Lindstrom. Pleased to meet you, Sara," she said, smiling. "While we are waiting for the sorting of the first years to start, I'll introduce you to some people. This," she said, gesturing towards a tan boy with short, curly brown hair and brown eyes, "is Noah Baker. He is a fifth year, as am I." Paige didn't get a lot further in her explanation, because then Professor McGonagall, who must have left immediately after Sara's sorting, came through the colossal doors of the Great Hall. She wasn't alone, but followed by fifty or so young witches and wizards wearing their new robes: these were the first years.  
  
Each first year looked smaller and more intimidated than the last. Sara knew what those kids must be feeling. She watched in silence as the young sorcerers made their way to the front of the room, where the sorting hat and the stool still sat, waiting quietly. Professor McGonagall unraveled a scroll of parchment, while the first years automatically lined themselves up facing her. She cleared her throat and looked with a strangely expectant glance at the hat. It was still for a moment, and then it quivered, as a rip near the brim of the hat opened wide and the hat began to sing.  
  
"I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat I've served time out of mind, And I was crafted for one job: To put you with your kind.  
  
The Founders were people Each unique and all complex, Difficult to understand, More so to second-guess.  
  
I'll trawl your mind and character, To find your talents deep, But you've no need to fear me for Your secrets I shall keep.  
  
You might find friends in Slytherin, For those who flout convention, They, cunning and ambitious folk, Are strong without intervention.  
  
If Gryffindor, you have great courage, And be known for your valor, Your gallantry and chivalry Make red and gold your color  
  
Yet Hufflepuff may be your place If you've a loyal heart, Those Hufflepuffs, hard workers Can set themselves apart.  
  
Last but not least, Ravenclaw Welcomes into its throng, Those who call knowledge power And with the wise belong.  
  
You hold a part of every house, Though strong may be your voice And sure be your self knowledge, I make the final choice."  
  
The entire Hall erupted with cheering and applause once the Sorting Hat had finished its song. The hat took a bow (at least, as much of a bow as a hat can take) and Professor McGonagall stepped forward with her scroll of parchment. Once the cheering had subsided, she cleared her throat and began to unravel the scroll.  
  
"When I call your name, please come forward, sit on the stool, and I shall place the Sorting Hat on your heads to be sorted into your houses. Adjan, Thomas." A boy with shaggy blond hair stumbled out of the line and sat on the stool. The Sorting Hat was placed on his head.  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted. The table next to the Ravenclaws exploded with cheers. The boy, Thomas, smiled in relief and went to join his House.  
  
"Allen, Brandon."  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Bailey, Laura."  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Benendetti, Antoinette," became the first new Ravenclaw. Sara stood up and cheered with the rest of the Ravenclaws as Antoinette sat down at the table.  
  
"Butler, Brett."  
  
"SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"Calco, Leah."  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" Sara caught sight of Lily and Rena welcoming the blond girl into their house.  
  
"Canale, Shane," became a Gryffindor also, but "Durig, Ruth," became a Slytherin. Sara sat back and watched the Sorting go on. "Ellis, Kelsey," and "Fitzgerald, Matthew," both became Ravenclaws. The list of students went on, but Sara enjoyed watching the diversity of students. Soon, she and Paige were guessing which house each student would be Sorted into.  
  
"Quigg, Meghan." Paige turned to Sara.  
  
"This one's a Slytherin for sure," she said as a girl with long, black, curly hair stepped up to be Sorted.  
  
"I don't know.she looks like a Ravenclaw to me," Sara said. Sure enough, the hat had declared Meghan a Ravenclaw, and Paige was shaking her head in mock shame.  
  
"Robinson, Daniel," was made a Gryffindor, and a pair of boy twins, "Ross and Ross" were declared Slytherins. The sorting continued through "Sage, Tabitha," and "Vogel, Stephen," (Ravenclaw!) until only four people were standing.  
  
"Weaver, Janet."  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"Wilson, Zachary."  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
"Yohn, Nicole."  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
"Zeigler, Jonas."  
  
RAVENCLAW!" After Jonas had taken his seat at the Ravenclaw table, and the clapping and cheering had subsided, the elderly man who sat at the elaborate seat at the center of the staff table rose silently and tapped his golden goblet with his spoon.  
  
"Attention, attention. Now that the Sorting is through, there are some last-minute announcements to be made before you dive into our scrumptious feast. First and foremost, I would like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to ALL students," he said, his blue eyes flicking for a moment over toward where Sirius and James sat. Sara saw the two of them grinning at one another, no doubt disregarding the rule. "And the Whomping Willow is not a plaything, so anyone caught teasing it will be given detention. Quidditch tryouts are open to all students in the second year or above, just see Madam Hooch. Now, I think that's all that needs to be said. Let the feast begin!"  
  
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Sorry, I don't feel like writing anymore in this chapter..it is seven pages long as it is. Now, to business.I'd like to give shout-outs to all of my reviewers for chapter two.  
  
Thanks to Happy and Don't Ask for their anonymous positive reviews.  
  
Witch Green Eyes-Thanks, hon! That's so sweet! I love your story too. I love your character profile btw...I'll see what I can do about putting it in the story.  
  
Laina and Annette-thanks! I'll see what else I get character profile-wise, but you should both be making your appearances next chapter if you are selected to be in the story.  
  
That's all of 'em! Thanks, guys! I am sooo glad that you like my writing!  
  
But it's my writing, too!  
  
But it's my screen name!  
  
But don't I get credit for helping?  
  
Okay, fine. Thanks to Lily for helping. Satisfied?  
  
Very.  
  
Thanks, readers! Come back for chapter four!!! Remember to Review for this chapter!!! 


	4. New Faces

THIS IS IT!!!! THE LONG-AWAITED CHAPTER FOUR!!!!!!  
  
*What she means to say is, thank you for being so patient.  
  
Yeah, sorry guys-first I was in the hospital for appendicitis, then I dropped my PDA and it took like 4 months to fix it, then it was exam time, then I suffered from the dreaded writers block ::gasp of horror::  
  
*But finally, here is chapter four!!!  
  
DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it--.All of my OC's and the plot belong to me-a share belongs to my sister.  
  
ATTENTION READERS: In response to my six reviewers for chapter three and the whisper of enthusiasm from people wanting to be in the story, I am proud to introduce two new characters: Serenica Boggsworth and Alaina Stork! Congrats, and thanx to everyone else who submitted profiles! Keep on reading-you never know when your character will make an appearance!  
  
UPDATED DISCLAIMER: If you don't recognize it, I own it-but Serenica Boggsworth belongs to Witch Green Eyes, and Alaina Stork belongs to Laina. I am just placing them in my plotline!  
  
Now, without further ado-----CHAPTER FOUR!!!!  
  
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At his words, platters on platters of delicious food appeared on each table.  
  
Sara gazed at the array of delicious food in front of her with an air of fascination; lamb, roast beef, fried chicken, steak, fish, boiled potatoes, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, greens, etc. Glancing down the table, she saw all of her Ravenclaw classmates digging into the delicious- looking food, so she thought it logical to eat as well. Sara soon found that all of the food was just as delicious as it looked and smelled as she savored the lamb and boiled potatoes on her plate.  
  
Students chattered merrilly with each other, filling in their friends on what they had done over their summer holidays and joking with one another. Sara glanced over at the table where Lily was sitting. Lily caught Sara's eye and beamed, and Sara returned her smile. Just then, Sara felt a tap on her left shoulder. She turned quickly and found herself face-to-face with a pretty girl with long, curly dark brown hair, tanned skin, and deep-set dark grey eyes. The girl smiled at Sara.  
  
"Hi! You must be the new girl. I'm Serenica Boggsworth, Ravenclaw fifth year. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She held out her hand. Sara shook it.  
  
"Sara O'Hanlon," she said. "It's good to meet you too." Sara smiled at the girl, who then began to introduce Sara to all of the other people nearby.  
  
"This is Lisa Finelli, and her twin brother Luke" she said, indicating a girl sitting across from her with curly blonde hair and green eyes, and a boy with blond hair and green eyes," and this is Tabitha Lou," an Asian girl with shoulder-length black hair smiled at her. "Next to her is Sebastian Bathe," she indicated a tall boy with dirty blond hair and blue eyes.  
  
"I told you never to call me Sebastian, Boggsworth!"  
  
"Fine then, Basti...happy now?"  
  
"Very much so. Carry on," he said as he smiled and shook Sara's hand along with the others.  
  
"Over there," Serenica continued, "Is Christian Walker, and there is Connor Hawke." A black boy about Sara's height leaned over to shake her hand, and Connor smiled from the next seat.  
  
"Yes, We've met," he said, smiling. "It's good to see you again...welcome to Ravenclaw." Sara smiled back at him.  
  
"Last, but not least," she said, indicating a girl with curly strawberry- blond hair and aqua eyes, "Alaina Stork." Alaina smiled at Sara, shaking her hand with the rest.  
  
"So Sara," Lisa said, clearly trying to make Sara feel comfortable. "How do you like Hogwarts so far?"  
  
"It's very nice...I like it a lot so far." There was another awkward silence. Sebastian spoke up again.  
  
"So do you know many people here?"  
  
"Yes, I met about seven on the train...plus Connor earlier...They seem like cool people."  
  
"Who did you meet?" Lisa inquired, interested.  
  
"Ummm...they were all Gryffindors..James Potter, Sirius Black, Rena Lupin and her brother, Lily Thompson, Arabella Figg, and another boy..I can't remember his name..." Many of the people sitting near her were staring. Sara hated when people stared at her. "What?"  
  
"You chose quite a group of people to meet," said Paige, joining the conversation. "The four boys are also known as the Marauders, quite the pranksters...and along with the girls they are the most popuar people in the school."  
  
"Wow"  
  
At that point, all of the food disappeared from the table and their plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. In their place appeared dishes of desserts: blocks of ice cream in every flavor, fruit tarts, cookies, donuts. As everyone helped themselves to dessert, the conversation turned to Quidditch.  
  
"I know the Tornados will blow everyone away this year." somebody was saying.  
  
"No way! The Tornados are the third worst in the league!"  
  
"They'll make it, I can feel it...especially after Liam Brott joined the team...He's a great Chaser..."  
  
As Sara helped herself to a raspberry tart, she took the opportunity to look around and take in her surroundings. The Great Hall was a magnificent place it really was. But she missed Beaumore and everything there so much it hurt...not to mention her parents. Determined not to cry and give herself away in front of her new friends, she pulled her thoughts back to the here and now, where the feast was ending. Sara noticed that Dumbledore was now standing at his seat at the head of the Hall. He seemed to be waiting for everyone to end their conversations.  
  
After a few minutes, nearly the entire hall was quiet, and the rest were quickly catching the hint. When every face in the hall was turned to his (with the exception, Sara noticed, of two boys sitting at the Slytherin table), he began to speak.  
  
"Once again, I have been asked to give you these start-of-term notices. As every year, the Forbidden Forest is ust that: forbidden to all students, as is the Whomping Willow at the edge of the grounds. No magic is allowed in the corridors, and this will be strictly enforced.  
  
"As our caretaker, Mr. Filch, begins his second year here, he has requested me to tell you that stink pellets and screaming yo-yos have been added to a list of forbidden novelties on the grounds. For the full length of the list, visit Mr. Filch's office door. Now that all has been said, it is time for you to be off to bed. Prefects will lead the first-years to their dormitories. Good night." With that, Dumbledore sat down. The whole of the Hall stood up and began to stream out of the colossal oak doors.  
  
As the students made their way into the entrance hall, Sara noticed that they began to part ways. Some went down another corridor, some went down a flight of stone steps, and others climbed a magnificent marble staircase. Sara stuck close to Paige, as she hadn't the faintest idea where she was going. Along the way, she met up with Lily,, who tapped her on the shoulder.  
  
"Congrats on making Ravenclaw!"  
  
"Oh, thanks! Is your dormitory this way, too?"  
  
"Yes," she said, "it is, well, I shouldn't tell you, but it's on the seventh floor." They began to climb another staircase when Professor McGonagall poked her head out of a doorway.  
  
"Miss O'Hanlon, could I see you for a moment, please?" Sara looked puzzled, but said goodbye to Lily, let Paige know where she was, and made her way to the professor's door. She went inside and found herself in McGonagall's office once again. "Please sit down," she said, indicating a chair in front of her desk. She sat behind her desk and studied Sara for a moment. Sara tried not to shift nervously in her seat.  
  
"Well then, Sara, I was reviewing your file from Beaumore, and there were quite a few things I was impressed with. Second in your class, were you not?" Sara nodded, trying not to be nervous. "I see that you have attended school for five years already. Apparently in the US they start your magical education at the age of 10, rather than 11, as we do here. This means, of course, that you will be, in a sense, repeating your fifth year. Now Headmaster Dumbledore and I were discussing this, and we have decided to place you with students of your age, rather than supposed intellectual level, so you might feel more at home for a while. Now, if at the end of the first term you feel that you aren't getting anything out of this, then I want you to tell me and we can switch your schedule. Does that sound alright?" Sara nodded.  
  
"Yes, Professor." McGonagall shifted a few loose bits of parchment on her desktop.  
  
"Now I see that you have had three years of arithmancy, two years of ancient runes, and two of divination, is that correct?"  
  
"Yes, Professor," Sara said again.  
  
"Alright then, here is what we have decided to do," she said, "You will take Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Charms, Astronomy, Ancient Runes, and Divination with your peers, and then you will take Arithmancy with the sixth years, so you will still feel challenged, but not so out-of-place. Is that alright with you?"  
  
"Yes Professor," she said a third time.  
  
"Normally I would have let Professor Flitwick, the Charms professor, explain this all to you, as he is your Head of House, but since I am the deputy headmistress anyway, Dumbledore saw fit to have me explain this to you. Now, it is time for you and your classmates to go to bed. I take it you don't know where the Ravenclaw common room is?"  
  
"No, Professor,"  
  
"Alright, then I will show you. Come along," and with that, Professor McGonagall led Sara out of the office and up another staircase. She led Sara down a corridor full of portraits of past Head Girls and Boys, then stopped in front of a large bronze statue of an eagle. "Scarab beetle," she said clearly, and the eagle, which seemed to come to life at these words, leapt aside to reveal a small, narrow door five feet tall and three feet wide, with a large brass ring for a handle.  
  
"This is the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. Your dormitory is in here...the fifth year dorms are up the right-hand staircase fifth floor up. There's a sign. All of your things have already been brought up and your owl is in the Owlery-- in a tower on the tenth floor. Classes begin at nine o'clock tomorrow...breakfast starts at 6:00am. Goodnight. Welcome to Hogwarts, Sara." She gave Sara a small smile.  
  
"Thank you, Professor McGonagall." With that, McGonagall turned and left and Sara was left on her own again. She stared at the wooden door with apprehension before gripping the cool metal ring and pulling the door open. Ducking her head, she went through the short hallway with ease, then stepped down two stairs and lifted her head to see the Ravenclaw common room.  
  
It was a very large, circular room. There was a large grate to Sara's left which contained a blazing fir. Placed around the fire were several blue plush armchairs and a couple of loveseats. Around the cmmon room, there were bookshelves and square and round wooden tables, surrounded by more plush archairs. A couple dozen students sat around still, talking and playing chess. The walls were stone, and lit by many torches. They held portraits of many Ravenclaw students who had become famous. Looking closely at one such portrait, one of a stout wizard with windblown hair, had a label that read "George McLeary--discovered Skele-gro potion.' At this, the portrait of the teen winked at her.  
  
Sara turned to the staircases. There were small bronze signs on each one to distinguish the boy's dormitories from the girl's. She climbed the staircase, and finally arrived at the door with another bronze plaque, bearing the words 'FIFTH YEARS.' Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and walked inside.  
  
The dormitory was clearly inside of one of the towers. Sara found herself standing in a circular room, six four-poster beds with rich, dark blue velvet hangings arranged inside it. The polished wooden floors were mostly covered with a large blue area rug with bronze trim, the Ravenclaw emblem woven into the center. Across the room, a fire was crackling merrily behind a brass grate. Sara walked in to find that her roommates were almost already in bed. Sara found her trunk and Athena's cage at the foot of one of the beds, and assuming this one was hers, went to dig out her nightclothes. On a chair beside her bed lay her new Hogwarts robes, now adorned with a patch depicting the Ravenclaw crest, as well as a scarf, gloves, a tie, and a hat in the ravenclaw colors of blue and shining bronze.  
  
"I see you've found the dorms alright," a voioce said behind her. Sara whirled around to find Paige standing in front of her, dressed in a teal bathrobe and a wide smile.  
  
"Yep," she answered. Paige sat at the foot of Sara's bed.  
  
"What did McGonagall want you for, anyway?"  
  
"Well, I needed to straighten out some of my classes...the ones I took at Beaumore don't match up with this curriculum," she said to the five girls in the room who had all situated themselves either on or around her bed, listening intently.  
  
"Beaumore was your school in the States?" Alaina inquired.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How come the curricula don't match up?" Tabitha piped up from her spot at the foot of the bed.  
  
"Because at Beaumore, they begin to educate sorcerers at the age of ten rather than eleven, so we had an extra year of education."  
  
"So you have to repeat your fifth year?"  
  
"That's what it looks like," Sara said grimly. She looked at Serenica, who seemed to be deep in thought.  
  
"That sucks!" she said bluntly. They giggled.  
  
"No kidding." There was a short silence.  
  
"Well, girls, I'd love to keep talking to Sara but I'm gonna hit the sack," Tabitha declared. Sara was grateful to her. She still didn't like to talk about herself all the time. It was great being able to talk about Beaumore; almost like she was home again--but she didn't want the conversation to turn to her parents. That was one thing she didn't feel like reliving now.  
  
As the girls turned away, Sara changed into her nightclothes and crawled into bed. It was unbelievably soft; like sleeping on a cloud, almost. The others were climbing into their own four-posters.  
  
"Good night!" Lisa told them.  
  
"Sleep tight!" this came from Tabitha. Sara thought she might as well put her bit in.  
  
"Don't let the bedbugs bite!" She said. At these words, Laina jumped out of her bed as if it were on fire. She ripped back her sheets, eyes darting back and forth nervously.  
  
"Bed bugs?" she squeaked. Eveyone laughed at her.  
  
"It's a muggle saying, blondie!" Said Paige as she sent a pillow flying towards Laina. She frowned and tossed it back. "How was I supposed to know that?" As the giggles subsided, she climbed back into her bed. As Sara prepared to pull the curtains closed, Paige's head popped out of her curtains.  
  
"Welcome to Hogwarts, Sara," She smiled.  
  
"Thanks," Sara returned. The girls exchanged grins before retreating into the privacy of their beds. Sara crawled beneath the heavy blue spread and crisp, clean white sheets and lay her head on the pillow.  
  
"I love you, Mom and Dad. I miss you more than anyone could know," she whispered in a voice so quiet she had to strain her ears to hear it herself. Then she relaxed and drifted quietly off into the first truly peaceful sleep she'd had in a long time.  
  
**************************  
  
That's all for the long-awaited chapter four. It is shorter than the others, but I thought that that would make a good stopping point.  
  
Reviewer Shout-outs-----  
  
Witch Green Eyes and Laina---congrats on making it: please continue to review.  
  
Bluestarinight, LadyAnna, and Wildfire-Keep on reading! I guarantee that you will show up in the story sooner or later!  
  
_AyCee_ --Thanks for your input..do you have any ideas for a better summary?  
  
I have received reviews that say my summary doesn't do justice to Sara's story...does anyone have an idea for a new summary? I'm open to suggestions!  
  
Luv You all!!!!  
  
~*~*Callista Rose*~*~ 


	5. The Sun Rises

DISCLAIMER: You know the drill-If you don't recognize it, it's mine, except for Alaina and Serenica, who belong to Alaina and Witch Green Eyes! All the rest belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, whom I respect even though the death of Sirius deeply peeved me off.

Yay!!! Another chapter!!! I promised that this would be up a few days ago, but since it wasn't, I am making amends by making this chapter longer than the others. so without further ado, here's chapter 5 :)

* * *

Sit Vis Tecum --Chapter 5

* * *

When Sara opened her eyes that morning, everything was quiet and dark. Though it was still early, she felt wide awake. Pulling open the velvet hanging a bit, Sara saw a bit of light streaming through a narrow window near her bed. The sun had risen, but the bottom edge of it seemed to just hover over the horizon.

The watch on the nighttable to her left read 5:55 am. Sara pulled back the hangings on the bed and stepped onto the wood floor. She found her way to her trunk and pulled out her robes, having the intention of somehow finding the Owlery and visitng Athena. At this thought, she pulled out her now- finished letter to Ariana to give to Athena. Sara dressed, brushed her hair and silently left the room, pushing open the wooden door and stepping down the stone stairway into the common room. The fire in the room had burned itself out during the night, and a few charred logs remained. The room was empty, but who would be in the common room at 6:00 in the morning? Sara could see by the light of the rising sun that the portraits on the walls were snoozing peacefully in their frames.

Sara made her way out of from behind the statue of the eagle and headed down the route that Professor McGonagall had taken her last night, and found the staircase to the Great Hall. Sara gave a start when her foot hit the first stair and the noise reverberated through an empty corridor. She panicked. She was sure that she was being way too loud. She jumped back in terror. The last thing that Sara wanted to do was cause trouble. She stood in a tense, uncomfortable silence while the seconds seemed to drag on in her fright.

"Oh, it's alright, dear," a soft voice said gently behind her. Sara turned around and looked for the speaker, but found no one. "Over here, dear." Sara searched again, and this time a painting of an elderly woman smiled at her. She had white hair pulled back into a bun, and was wearing an everyday dress, sitting in a rocking chair and knitting. "Hello, and who might you be?" the woman inquired.

"S-Sara ma'am," she said tentatively.

"Aaaah, right you must be the new fifth year. I see you've been sorted into Ravenclaw house. Well done."

"Excuse me, but how did you know that?"

"Oh, dear, I can't travel much, but the other wiches and wizards in castle paintings come visit me often: bringing news, chatting over a cup of tea, exchanging gossip. Now, you looked like you were looking for something a minute a go, dear." The old woman sat back down in her chair and pulled a blanket from the side of her chair onto her lap.

"I was looking for the Owlery. Could you tell me where it is, please?"

"Of course,, honey. All you have to do," she explained this in the tone one would use while explaining to a toddler that 112. "Is go down this corridor to your left-- like you would to go back to Ravenclaw tower--turn right, go up two flights of stairs, go straight down the corridor, turn left after two corridors, go through the tapestry of the three women at tea, turn right,, keep going until you come to a narrow stone staircase, make sure you jup over the seventh and sixteenth steps so you don't get stuck, turn left at the first landing, then left again, go up the spiral staircase to the top, and you're there." The old woman smiled at Sara, who by now was extremely confused. She tried to smile.

"Thank you for your help, ma'am. I'll see you around, then." Sara told her. The old woman waved goodbye and went back to her knitting. Sara made to go back to Ravenclaw tower. Instead of turning down another corridor, she decided to lie low at Ravenclaw tower for a while. Paige could show her later where the Owlery was. Approaching the statue of the bronze eagle, she gave the password, and the statue sprang aside. Sara opened the heavy door and stepped through the passageway into the common room.

The room was deserted. Sara quietly made her way up the spiral staircase to her dormitory and pulled open the door. Paige was awake, dressed and tying a bandanna around her short, wavy hair. She looked at Sara and Sara could see a tiny wave of relief sweep over her face.

"Good morning," Sara said lamely. Paige rolled her eyes a bit.

"Where were you?"

"I tried to find the Owlery, but I got lost on the way...so I came back. What time is it?"

"Six-thirty," she said. "I'm going to go to breakfast early- I always do. Wanna come?" she smiled at Sara. Sara grinned.

"Sure," Paige put down her hairbrush and led the way back down the stairs, through the common room, and out into the corridor. As they walked down to the Great Hall, they began to talk.

"So why were you up so early this morning?" Paige inquired.

"Oh I woke up, and felt too awake to go back to sleep."

"Oh, ok." there was a pause as they started down the first staircase. "So how long have you been in England?"

"About three weeks."

"Really? Wow. When most people move, they do it at the beginning of the summer, to have time to settle in. How come you came so late?" Sara panicked. She didn't want to tell anyone yet, not about what really happened, what really brought her to England. She did some very quick thinking.

"Oh, um--my father was transferred here with his job, and we didn't know until later in the summer." She glanced over at Paige. The look of understanding on her face told Sara that she had bought the story.

"So what sort of job does your dad have?"

"He was a specialist in hyperbaric medicine." Sara's eyes widened in horror as she realized her mistake too late: She had used the past tense. Maybe Paige hadn't noticed. She had.

"Was?" she asked.

"Oh, um, I mean he still is...it's just he's become higher in that position. That's why we moved here. He is the director of a medical center specializing in that sort of thing that just opened up outside of London." Paige suddenly nodded in understanding.

"Oh, so that must be a muggle thing--Hybareplics, isn't it?" Sara laughed a bit. Half of it was in relief. Paige wouldn't know if a medical center had been opened in the muggle world or not!

"Yep, it's a muggle thing all right. Oh, here's the door." They had reached the heavy oak doors to the Great Hall. The doors swung open at their approach to reveal a cheerful Hall, whose enchanted ceiling was, today, a cheery blue with scattered white clouds. She saw that maybe a hundred or so students had already seated themselves at their respective House tables and were enjoying the bacon and eggs that were sitting on platters on each of the four long wooden tables. Paige led her across the hall to the Ravenclaw table, where they joined Noah and Christian, who had apparently arrived earlier.

"Morning, girls," Noah said cheerfully as Paige took the seat next to him as Sara sat beside Christian.

"Morning, Noah," Paige said cheerfully, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"How was your first night here, Sara?" Christian inquired. Sara poured herself a glass of water and took a sip.

"It was fine, thanks." Sara helped herself to an English muffin and began buttering it as Lisa joined them, sitting beside Sara and spooning scrambled egg onto her plate. "Good morning, Lisa."

"Good morning Sara, and everyone else," she said, smiling widely at them all.

"You seem overly perky today," said Christian.

"Oi, she's always like that, mate!" Luke Finelli appeared and took the seat across from his twin sister. His remark earned him a slap on the wrist from Lisa.

"So Sara," Sara turned at the sound of Noah's voice, "First day of classes today--are you excited?" Sara continued preparing her breakfast, now spreading a thin layer of jam on the muffin.

"Not terribly, no," she responded without looking up. Luke's jaw dropped in mock horror.

"Oh, but whyever not?" he asked.

"Why would she want to?" Tabitha, Serenica and Alaina joined them and sat down, clearly interested in Sara's response.

"Because the only really new thing here for me will be my Arithmancy class. Don't know if I told you, but in the States, they start wizarding education at the age of 10 rather than 11, so I have had a year more education than you guys. So basically, since they don't have accelerated programs here or anything, so I have to sort of repeat the fifth year." She glanced around. The girls looked unfazed, having heard all of this the previous night, but Noah, Luke, Christian and Connor who had joined the rest moments earlier had expressions of mixed awe and horror on their faces.

"Geez," said Luke, "You yanks are messed up!" This earned him another slap from his twin.

"Luke, be nice," Lisa hissed under her breath. The rest of the students in earshot laughed, and to Lisa's surprise, so did Sara.

"Yes, you're right, Luke-- Americans do have a different way of doing things, but I do think that this is for the better." She finished spreading jam on her English muffin and looked up at the rest of them. "But I did get Professor McGonagall to put me in Arithmancy with the sixth years, so I will at least be up-to-speed there."

"That's cool," Paige said. "Maybe you'll see my sister while you're there. She's in Ravenclaw too."

"Yeah," Christian said. "So is my brother." After that point the talk shifted to their siblings. Sara contented herself with munching on her muffin, listening rather than talking. After a while, a sudden swooshing sound of hundreds of wings of owls filled the ceiling, taking Sara by surprise. She gasped audibly.

"Finally," said Alaina, absentmindedly twirling a lock of blonde hair around her index finger. "Mum should be sending a package of parchment, I totally forgot it for some reason." Sure enough, a large brown barn owl swooped down and dropped a package into Alaina's lap. Sara watched as other owls of various sizes and colors deliver packages and letters as diverse in appearance as the owls themselves into their owner's laps. Soon after, as Sara helped herself to a tangerine, a tiny little wizard maybe three feet tall came around handing out everyone's course schedules. When he finally got 'round to Sara, a grin spread across his face.

"Hello, Miss O'Hanlon. Welcome to Hogwarts! I am Professor Flitwick, Charms professor and Ravenclaw Head of House. It is a pleasure to meet you," He said, handing her a roll of parchment and shaking her hand. Sara smiled at him politely.

"Thank you, Professor. It is nice to meet you, too." Professor Flitwick beamed at her and continued to move down the table, handing out timetables to the rest of the Ravenclaws. Sara took the opportunity to unroll the parchment and look at her schedule:

SARA O'HANLON  
RAVENCLAW HOUSE

MONDAY 9am HERBOLOGY with Hufflepuffs  
1030am ANCIENT RUNES  
1pm HISTORY OF MAGIC with Slytherins  
230pm DOUBLE TRANSFIGURATION with Gryffindors

TUESDAY: 9am CHARMS with Gryffindors  
1030am ARITHMANCY  
1pm DAtDA with Gryffindors  
3pm POTIONS with Slytherins and Gryffindors

WEDNESDAY: 830am SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATION  
10am DOUBLE HERBOLOGY with Hufflepuffs  
1pm DIVINATION  
3pm HISTORY OF MAGIC with Gryffindors

THURSDAY: 9am ANCIENT RUNES  
11am CHARMS with Hufflepuffs  
1pm ARITHMANCY  
3pm DOUBLE DAtDA with Gryffindors

FRIDAY: 9am DOUBLE POTIONS with Slytherins  
1130am DIVINATION  
130pm TRANSFIGURATION with Gryffindors  
3pm HISTORY OF MAGIC with Hufflepuffs

SATURDAY: FREE DAY

SUNDAY: 1130pm ASTRONOMY

Sara pored over her schedule. Today was Tuesday, as the first of September had been the previous day. Then her first class would be Charms with the Gryffindors. Sara noticed that Paige was looking over her shoulder, reading her schedule with interest.

"Hmmm, looks like your schedule is a bit tweaked-probably because of your advanced Arithmancy course-but-" she checked her own schedule, "-I have Charms and Defense against the Dark Arts with you. That's good, but it also looks like you'll be the only Ravenclaw in your potions class today. I have potions when you have Arithmancy, and it looks like most of the rest do, too." Tabitha inclined her head, tearing her gaze away from her timetable.

"We what?" she inquired, sitting up straighter and setting her schedule down for a moment.

"What class do you have today at 10:30?" Sara asked her. Tabitha picked up her schedule again and scanned it.

"Potions with the Hufflepuffs, why?" Sara frowned a bit.

"How about Basti and Alaina?" As they were both sitting near Tabitha, she yanked their timetables out of their hands ("Hey!") and looked them over briefly.

"Potions, and---Potions, why?" she asked for the second time, apparently unaware of the death glares that were being thrown at her from either side. Quickly catching the hint, Tabitha returned the timetables to their proper owners.

"Because Sara has her Arithmancy class then, which sticks her in a Potions class at three o'clock with the Slytherins and Gryffindors." The other fifth years were all casting her looks of both pity and confusion.

"Wait a sec, though," said Sebastian (Basti?) "I take Arithmancy, too, but there are no conflicts like that with my schedule." Sara almost rolled her eyes, but then remembered that he had not been there when she had explained the situation earlier in the morning. Sara filled him in on her dilemma, and then sat back and took a sip of her water, waiting for a response. Basti just shrugged.

"Oh," he said, "Alright, then." and embarassedly lowered his head, suddenly becoming extremely interested at the ham and eggs still on his breakfast plate.

Before long, it was eight o'clock, and Sara wanted to go back to the common room to prepare for her first class. She told Paige this, and she agreed to lead the way back to Ravenclaw House. They were soon accompanied by Alaina and Serenica, who were chattering excitedly about the start of classes. They rounded a corner on the fourth floor, passing the elderly woman who had tried to help Sara earlier, who smiled at Sara as she passed. They came to the front of the statue.

"Scarab beetle," Alaina said impatiently, and the eagle hopped aside and let them into the common room. It looked as if the house-elves had been in to clean: the fire was once again crackling in the grate, the array of torn bits of parchment and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum wrappers which had littered the floor earlier were gone, and (Sara saw as they went into the dormitory) the beds had all been made, complete with little cards on the pillows welcoming them all back to Hogwarts.

Sara crouched by her trunk, rummaging around inside it, gathering one-by- one the textbooks and other supplies she would need for Charms and Ancient Runes. She rounded up some parchment, a bottle of black ink (as she did not yet know rules concerning ink color) and a few ordinary quills. Finally fishing her copy of Advanced Numerogical Theory out of her trunk, she slammed the lid shut, neatly piling the materials on top of it.

"Why are you carrying so many books around?" Serenica asked. "It's only Charms and Potions first, and we don't have a book for potions."

"I don't have potions with you, remember?" Sara said as she began putting the books into her bag. "I have charms and Arithmancy first, and I am taking them in case I don't have time to come back here--there's a very good chance I could get lost between classes."

"Fair point," Paige agreed, shoving a box of potion ingredients into her own bag. By then Tabitha and Lisa had come back, and were packing their bags. Sara sat on her bed, bag having been ready for seveal minutes. She had horrible butterflies in her stomach and she tried in vain to suppress them, but soon found that pressing the palm of her hand on her stomach made the nervous feeling multiply by ten. She was startled out of her daydream when Paige, who occupied the bed to her right, picked up her backpack and sat on Sara's bed.

"Listen," she said soothingly. "You'll be fine." Sara gave her a feeble nod. "Do you want to go to class early? So you can meet Flitwick? Charms is one of my favorite classes--you are allowed to talk most of the time and it is really a lot of fun."

"Alright. Let's go, then," she said, and Sara slung her bag over her shoulder and, after looking back at the dorm for a moment (Alaina finishing up an essay she'd had to do for summer homework, and Tabitha braiding Serenica's long, dark hair), she followed Paige out the door and down the spiral staircase.

"So where exactly is the Charms classroom?" They emerged from the common room and started down the corridor.

"Oh, it's not far--it's just on the third floor." Within five minutes they were in the classroom and ten minutes early for class. Both set their bags down on nearby desks and sat down, waiting for class to start, not even Professor Flitwick was there yet. They sat in silence for what seemed like a lifetime: Sara suddenly felt too weak and self-conscious to talk. It was as if Paige could read her thoughts.

"Are you alright, Sara? You look sick."

"I don't feel great, truthfully," she admitted. "I guess it comes with the territory, being the new girl and all." She paused. "So what's Professor Flitwick like, anyway?"

"Short--very short," a familiar voice said jokingly behind her. Sara turned to see who had just entered the classroom and found herself face-to- face once again with James Potter. Right behind him was Sirius, both grinning at her.

"Good morning James, Sirius," she told them, grinning as well.

"And you, O'Hanlon," Sirius returned.

"Oh, please Sirius--cut the last-name crap." Lily Thompson appeared in the doorway, followed by Arabella, her dark hair swinging behind her. "Good morning, Sara."

"Morning Lily. Morning, Arabella." Arabella smiled in reply.

"So what were we talking about?" Lily inquired.

"You mean before you burst in here---"

"Sirius I'm warning you--"

"---Barging into people's private conversations like you own the place---" The sarcasm in Sirius' voice was quite detectable; Sara could tell that the two of them joked around a lot.

"All right, all right," James cried in exasperation. "Enough already! You are going to scare Sara.she's gonna think we act like this all the time!"

"But we do act like this all the time!"

"That's not the point!"

"What's the point, then?"

"AAARGH!!!! Black, I'm gonna kill you!" Lily cried, mocking James' exasperated tone of voice.

"There you go again---using my last name when you just got through telling me not to---"

"Sirius, would you like to be buried or cremated?"

"Guys, I think we---as in, you---are scaring Sara's friend," Arabella said calmly, pointing over Sara's shoulder. Paige stood off to the side, wearing an expression of confusion mixed with, Sara was surprised to see, a tiny hint of intimidation. Her face was also slighly pale. Sara laid her hand on Paige's shoulder and shook it gently. Her eyes suddenly snapped into focus.

"Geez, Sara, where are your manners?" James asked in a voice of mock scandalization. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" James put his arm around Lily's shoulders.

"Oh, right---um, guys, this is Paige,"she indicated her fellow Ravenclaw unnecessarily--Paige smiled through her nervousness. Off to the side, James and Sirius exchanged smirks. "And Paige, this," she indicated each of them in turn, "is Lily, James, Sirius, and Arabella." They smiled at Paige.

"So, umm, you're in Ravenclaw, then?" Sirius asked, looking as if he already knew the answer, but wanted to hear Paige's answer for himself, as confirmation.

"Yes, I am," said Paige, trying to control her shaking voice. Sirius and James exchanged looks of mischief. Lily noticed and elbowed James painfully in the ribs, causing him to wince. That moment, though, Sara heard voices coming down the hall that distracted her from James' whimpers of pain and Lily's glares at him and Sirius. She strained her ears to hear the voices, but this became quite unnecessary as the voices grew louder. The rest of them quieted to hear the shouting as well.

"No, I'm not!!!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No way!"

"You can't deny it---you are a bookworm!"

"Am not!" The voices of the two people were coming closer, Sara recognized both of them.

"You are so!"

"Am NOT!" Remus and Rena Lupin came around the corner and into the classroom. Remus' face was bright red, and Rena had laughter in her eyes. James forgot the pain and grinned. Sirius laughed.

"Are so!" he shouted, mocking Rena's tone of voice and laughing again. Sara noticed that his laugh sounded rather like the bark of a dog. Remus rounded on him.

"I'm so gonna kill you, Padfoot!"

"Are not!" once again, he mocked Rena's tone of voice. This caused both of the twins to glare at him.

"Would you like to be buried or creamated?" Rena spat at Sirius. This caused Lily to laugh out loud, and Arabella grinned.

"Now, now, no need to be violent, Miss Lupin." They all whirled around. Professor Flitwick, along with the majority of the class, were staring at them. Sara was appalled; she hadn't even realized that they were there. Looking around, the only people who had noticed their presence were Arabella and Paige. "Alright, settle down everyone, let's start class...take your seats." Sara was flushed. She sat down in her seat next to Paige, who looked mildly ill. Sara saw all of her fellow Ravenclaw fifth-years sitting around her, and a number of students she did not know sat with Lily and her friends on the opposite side of the room. Once everyone was seated, class began.

"Good morning, class," Professor Flitwick said cheerfully, clambering on top of the stack of books that allowed him to see over the top of his desk. "I hope you have all had a relaxing holiday. Now, first things first, please hand in the essays I've asked you to do over the summer." There was a sudden scramble and a rustling of parchment as students retrieved their homework.

"Oh, no---I've forgotten mine!" squeaked a pudgy boy with small, watery eyes that Sara recognized as Peter Pettigrew. Nobody else seemed to pay much attention to him, so Sara redirected her attention back to Professor Flitwick, who, with a sweeping of his wand, collected the essays.

"Now, I thought we would start the year with Unbreakable Charms. Before we begin practicing the charm, though, you'll need to copy these notes down--- " He waved his wand at the blackboard, and at once neat script writing appeared on it. Sara, of course, knew the information already, but dipped her quill into the inkwell on her desk and began to write.

Halfway through the hour, the scratching of quills ceased, and the Professor instructed them to pull out their wands.

"Now, repeat the incantation after me: Impedire Fragosus." He looked expectantly at the class.

"Impedire Fragosus!" they chanted, Sara feeling rather foolish, mostly because she already knew this charm.

"And make sure you use the correct wand movement: wave the wand around the object you wish to make Unbreakable, then quickly jab it, if you will. Go ahead and practice, we will be practicing on teacups and saucers, which are up here at the front of the room for you to collect. Get to it!" No sooner had he uttered these words than a voice piped up from the back of the room.

"Accio, teacup!" James said, waving his wand: almost immediately, a china teacup soared into his waiting hand. Most of the class laughed, and James looked as if he enjoyed the attention. The laughter soon subsided, and the other students were filing up to Flitwick's desk for tea china to charm.

Sara's lavender-patterned teacup sat on the edge of her desk: she tried to decide whether to play dumb, or just charm the cup and act like she was lucky the first time. Looking around, she saw that every student in the room was attempting to charm his or her cup or saucer, with the exception of James and Sirius, who were making their teacups race each other across the room. As Paige had told her earlier, everyone was talking with their friends. The other Ravenclaw fifth years had pulled their desks into a large circle: over on the left side of the room, the marauders and company had done the same, leaving a few students on their own to form their own group. Tabitha motioned for her to join them, so Sara eagerly pulled up her desk, toting her teacup and wand with her.

"Didn't think we'd leave you by yourself, did you?" Tabitha grinned along with the others. She could hear them attempting the charm for themselves, though without muck success.

"Impedier Fragusus...I mean, Impdiree Fractious..AAARG!" Sebastian cried out in frustration. The others seemed to be having the same amount of luck. Noah, who sat next to Sara, said the incantation perfectly, but couldn't get the wand movement down. He jabbed his wand so hard out of frustration that the saucer was knocked over the edge of his desk and shattered ("Reparo!" Serenica pointed her wand at the shards and the saucer was back in one piece). Alaina waved her wand so wildly that it flew out of her hand and hit the stack of books that Professor Flitwick was standing on, causing them to topple over. Alaina retrieved her wand, wringing her hands and apologizing endlessly as Flitwick rebuild his book stack. She returned to the table looking so embarrassed, that Sara wanted badly to help her.

"No, it's more of a swirling motion," she told Alaina before she could stop herself. Realizing the slip far too late, she quickly averted her eyes. Most of the others looked at her in disbelief.

"You can do this charm?" Paige asked quietly, a look of mild puzzlement on her face. Sara nodded slowly. They would surely shun her now. Looking up at last, however, she found that she was quite wrong.

"Can you show us how to do it properly?" Asked Noah in admiration. Behind him, the others nodded fervently. Sara nodded. She turned to the teacup on her desk, and pointed her wand at it.

"Impedire Fragosus!" she commanded the cup, swirling her wand over it, then doing the proper jabbing motion. The teacup quivered for an instant, then glowed with a rose colored light, rising a few centimeters in the air. The others watched, impressed. Sara, feeling eyes on her back, turned and saw that every pair of eyes in the room was turned to her, including Professor Flitwick's. The teacup dropped back onto her desk, but did not so much as crack. Flitwick clapped his hands enthusiastically.

"Well done, Miss O'Hanlon, well done indeed!" He beamed at her, and she smiled back nervously. She was uncomfortably aware of whispers in the room.

"It was only her first attempt, too!"

"Who does she think she is?"

"She's not even from this country."

"It must be something about those foreign schools."

"Yankees, I'm telling you-" This voice, Sara saw, belonged to none other than Sirius Black. Sara looked over in that direction, eyebrows slightly raised. Lily caught her eye and motioned her over. Sara briefly excused herself from the Ravenclaw table and went to join the Gryffindors.

"Don't mind Sirius, he's just jealous," Lily explained, glaring at Sirius.

"What?!?"

"Sara heard your comment, Padfoot," Rena said bitterly. Sara was mildly surprised. Were they actually sticking up for her?

"Don't worry about it, Rena," she said quickly, covering for Sirius. Why would she care about a stupid comment, anyways?

"He's just jealous," Lily said, earning a glare from Sirius. "He and James think they are brilliant.and it is a change having someone better than them. Of course, that's to be expected of Ravenclaws.." Sara smiled. This might turn out to be a fun year after all.

* * *

End of the fifth chapter, sorry I made you wait so long.It ended in a bad place, but still.Had I gone through the whole day it would have been twice as long as it is now!!!

Shout outs to my two reviewers:

VampireBat: I love your character, and I can guarantee that she will show up in the near future! Keep reading and reviewing!

Laina: Thanx for being a faithful reviewer! Let me know if I make Alaina do something in the story that is too outside her personality.I will try to avoid that.also, if you could let me know her strengths and weaknesses (class-wise). That goes for Witch Green Eyes as well.. Keep reading and reviewing! I'll even accept flames!

_Right, though she won't like them anyways!_

Hey, If there is something wrong, I wanna know about it!

_::shrugs:: suit yourself, then_

Stick around for chapter 6..more to come: Sara, Lily, and others have secrets.what could they be? Keep reading and find out


	6. Glimpse of Snakes

DISCLAIMER-I own nothing that you recognize from any of the HP books...that was all the creation of JKR. However, two OC's belong to their owners: Alaina Stork to Laina and Serenica Boggsworth to Witch Green Eyes.  
  
READERS: The call for characters is over for now, but I promise that I will fit your characters in there sometime, be it sooner or later, so keep reading!!! Also, I have a secondary category to this listed as a romance..patience!!! Romances will develop, and one (namely, Lily and James) is there, but I don't show it much now. I am thinking of changing the category to Tragedy, just so you know...what do you think? Feedback is always appreciated, even ::sniff:: flames.  
  
Here then, without further ado, is chapter 6!!!  
  
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Sit Vis Tecum--Chapter 6  
  
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"Excuse me, Professor, could you tell me how to get to the Arithmancy classroom please?"  
  
Sara was quite lost. She had left Charms in a good mood, what with Paige voluntarily giving her directions to the Arithmancy classroom and turning with the rest of the Ravenclaws and heading into the dungeons for Potions. Of course, her mood dropped considerably after she got lost somewhere on the third floor. It hadn't helped matters any that she knew no one, and so after ten minutes she was glad indeed to have brought her books with her. Sara was greatly relieved when she saw a rather dumpy-looking witch with frizzy grey hair keeping a lookout for misbehaving students in the corridor.  
  
"Of course, dear," she said, squinting at Sara with the monocle screwed onto her right eye. "All you need to do is go up to the fifth floor and find the corridor with the suits of armor. Professor Millstone's classroom is the door to the left of the armor of Sir Galahad. If you get lost along the way, you can just ask a suit of armor or a ghost to help find your way."  
  
"Thank you very much, Professor." Sara made her way through the stream of students trying to get to class, and hurried up the nearest staircase. Once on the fifth floor, she easily found the right corridor, but was dismayed to see that there were at least two dozen doors, each flanked by an animated suit of armor. At least there weren't as many students here, she thought, shifting her bag on her shoulder. Sara traipsed the length of the corridor, searching for the suit of armor that had once belonged to Sir Galahad. She spotted it pacing the stretch of wall between classrooms 411 and 413, bit her lip and approached it.  
  
"Excuse me," the suit of armor jumped at being addressed by a student. The armor inclined its head in query.  
  
"Yes?" It said in strong, slightly rusty, voice that sounded as if it hadn't been used in quite a long time.  
  
"Could you tell me which room is the Arithmancy classroom?"  
  
"Ah, Arithmancy, a noble subject. But wait--you look more wise than a third-year, so why doth thee seek the Arithmancy room? Has thou forgotten where it lies?" He spoke in a gallant manner now.  
  
"Er, yes, could you show me where it is, please?" Sara was beginning to get the impression that Sir Galahad was not quite right in the head.  
  
"Of course, noble maiden! The classroom of Arithmancy is the door numbered 417, just a few paces down the corridor."  
  
"Thank you," Sara told him, turning to walk away.  
  
"May the strength of the kingdom be with you on your noble quest!" the suit of armor said enthusiastically, waving her on. Sara didn't know what to say to this: one of the things that came to mind was to tell him that he was a nutter, but she compromised and settled with not saying anything at all.  
  
Sara approached classroom 417 and, discovering that the door was pen already, walked inside. It was different from the charms classroom in that it was very sunny and bright, and housed a number of potted plants. The seats were arranged into several tables for four students, all arranged in a sort of semicircle around the teacher's desk up front. A large blackboard covered nearly all of the front wall; the words 'Welcome back, Sixth years' were scripted in glittery white on them, while the words 'Mirabilla Millstone, Arithmancy Instructor' shimmered pink in corner.  
  
"Well, hello there," A voice said that made Sara jump. Whirling around she saw a rather young witch in mauve robes and curly black hair grinning broadly at her. "I am Mirabilla Millstone, the Arithmancy professor. You must be the transfer student! It's good to meet you!"  
  
"Sara O'Hanlon, Professor," she replied, shaking her hand.  
  
"Yes, Professor Dumbledore said you would be here. You are only a fifth- year, are you not, though?" Sara felt the smallest bit of heat rising to her cheeks.  
  
"Yes, Professor, I am a fifth year." Millstone nodded.  
  
"Ah, well, I am sure Dumbledore knows what he is doing, putting you in here. Well, If you need it, I will be here to help you. You know that all of the others in here will be sixth-years, right?" Sara nodded. Just then a cluster of sixth-years came through the door. Sara glanced at her watch, and saw that the start of class was just a few minutes away. The sixth- years noticed Sara and stopped in their tracks.  
  
"Hello, who are you?" A girl with a round, friendly face and short brown hair piped up, speaking from the front of the group.  
  
"Sara O'Hanlon."  
  
"Oh, yeah, you're the transfer from the states! But aren't you a fifth year?" Asked a tall Black boy with shorn hair and the hint of mustache.  
  
"Yes--it's a long story--but I've already had five years of Arithmancy at my old school, so Professor Dumbledore saw fit to place me in a higher class than usual so I would feel challenged." Sara looked around at their reactions, which were quite unremarkable, so she continued, "Um, what are your names?" A pink-cheeked witch with violet hair laughed.  
  
"Oh, where are our manners?" She said. "I am Melanie Porter, this [she indicated the black wizard] is Jonas Walker, the girl you spoke with earlier is Lydia Boardman, and this-" she made a motion towards a girl with familiar wavy blonde hair, "-is Fiona Lindstrom." Paige's sister smiled at her, along with the rest of the sixth years. Jonas noticed Sara's Ravenclaw robes and nodded approvingly.  
  
"You're in Ravenclaw then?"  
  
"Duh, Jonas! I thought the whole school saw her Sorting!" Fiona rolled her eyes at him. He looked at his feet.  
  
"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that." Everybody went to sit down, then, as it was time for class to begin. At once, Professor Millstone spoke up.  
  
"Alright, then! I hope you all have had relaxing summer holidays! Now before I assign your seats [a number of the students groaned], I would like to collect your summer essays." There was a scramble for parchment much like the one earlier in the Charms room as they all fetched their essays from their bags. Once Millstone was satisfied, she took a sheaf of parchment from atop her desk and held it at eye level.  
  
"Now then," she began, "here are your table arrangements for this term: at the first table, I have Walker, Aramaea, Santiago, and Dorr." Sara saw Jonas joined by a pudgy boy with thick hair, a Spanish girl, and an overly lanky girl who greatly resembled a tall weed. "At the second table: Black, Harrah, Wills, and O'Hanlon." Sara took her books and moved to a nearby table with a black-haired girl, a tall boy with green eyes, and a broad- shouldered boy. They sat at the assigned table and waited for Millstone to finish.  
  
"Hello, you're the new girl, right? My name is Hector Wills." the broad shouldered boy said. The other boy introduced himself as Adam Harrah, and the girl as Bellatrix Black. They exchanged casual greetings, smiling at them. Sixth years aren't so bad, she thought to herself. Looking up, she noticed Bellatrix glancing at her robes.  
  
"You're in Ravenclaw,then?" she said casually, mostly for the sake of making conversation.  
  
"Yes," Sara replied, looking down at where the Ravenclaw emblem was displayed on her chest.  
  
"I'm in Slytherin, myself," she informed Sara, smirking with pride at the fact. Glancing at her robes, Sara saw a silver snake, settled on a background of emerald green staring up at her.  
  
"Me too," Adam Harrah put in, smiling at Sara.  
  
"Not me, I'm in Hufflepuff!" Hector said, looking glum. Sara frowned slightly confused.  
  
"What's wrong with Hufflepuff?" she asked him. Hector shrugged.  
  
"I dunno--It's just that I could have been placed into a more distinguished house, that's all."  
  
"Yes, well, I was under the impression that all of the houses were equally distinguished."  
  
"That's what they want you to think, when you first come here. That's what they told us all in the beginning, too. But I don't think it's true." Sara felt rather sorry for Hector, but also something that the marauders had told her on the train the day before: That Gryffindor was the best house, Ravenclaw wasn't too bad, Slytherin was where all the gits were, and that Hufflepuff was the house of duffers who couldn't be placed anywhere else. She also couldn't help but notice that Bellatrix and Adam, while they said nothing harmful, said nothing comforting either.  
  
"Now, then, class--welcome back!!! Woohoo! I know you're all sooo excited to be back, so I won't hold back your thirst for knowledge. First, though, I would like to congratulate you on the completion of your O.W.L exams-" a few students, Sara smiled at this, and others groaned audibly "- and say that for the next two years I will help you as best I can to do well on your N.E.W.T. exams at the close of the year. So, let's begin!" She said this so enthusiastically that her hat seemed to jump off of her head in excitement. Students took out their parchment and quills, as Professor Millstone waved her wand and more sparkling white medium [chalk?] streamed from its tip and began to write itself across a side of the overly large blackboard. "Now today, we will be learning Divisus' approach to evaluating Arithmancical expressions with three or more variables--"  
  
The rest of the class went rather quickly, with Sara and her table-mates not having thetime to talk through their vigorous note-taking. The class was really a lot of fun; everyone talked and laughed a lot, and Professor Millstone seemed to enjoy it as muchas the students did. Sara got the impression that Millstone loved teaching, and most of the time she made jokes and chortled along with the class. At the end of the class, she waved her wand and cleared the chalkboard.  
  
"Now, I think that's enough brain-bending for today," she said cheerfully. "I don't think I want to give you any homework today-- but oh, what the hell!" This statement was met by a number of groans from the class. Professor Millstone grinned. "Alright then, just take five minutes and look over those notes that you took today. That's all, class is dismissed!"  
  
Sara swept her book, parchment, quill and ink bottle back into her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and stood up, stretching. She turned to leave the room.  
  
"O'Hanlon! Wait a moment." Bellatrix Black was approaching her with a small smile on her face. She hurried up on Sara's left side; a few of her Slytherin friends trailed behind them.  
  
"Yes?" Bellatrix looked at her approvingly.  
  
"You know, I like you, Sara," she told her. "I thought I might, you know, take you under my wing: show you the ropes. After all, it must be confusing, being new to the school and all. What do you say?"  
  
Sara started to say that she already had people to do this, but caught herself. Having the opinion of an older student, particularly a Slytherin, could come to be useful. She had been told that Slytherin was, in Sirius' words, a 'house of gits.' One of them being kind to her seemed a bit dodgy; but, she thought, she might as well take advantage of another opinion.  
  
"Alright, yeah, that would be great. Thanks, Bellatrix," she said, smiling at the Slytherin standing next to her, who returned the smile.  
  
"Okay then. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about any aspect of Hogwarts life, and I will be more than happy to help you out." Sara nodded, smiling at her again. "I guess I'll see you next class then!" Bellatrix doubled back and met her Slytherin friends, who were giggling behind her, and they turned and walked in the opposite direction, still whispering--they rounded a corner and were gone. Sara shifted her bag, and walked down the corridor the opposite way, aiming to get back for lunch. Checking her watch, she saw that it was only 11:30-- she had an hour and a half to eat lunch and get to her next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
With help from two portraits and the Hufflepuff House ghost, she found her way slowly back to the Great Hall. When the great, heavy oak doors swung open as she approached, the delighted laughter and chatter of other students rang in her ears, and she couldn't help but smile. As it was midday, sunlight streamed through each of the two dozen high windows in the hall, making any sort of lighting quite unnecessary. It looked as if just over one hundred students were sitting at their House tables, taking a break from classes. Sara quickly found her way over to the area of the Ravenclaw table where she had sat with the others earlier; her face fell when she found the area devoid of familiar faces.  
  
"I guess it's just as well." she said under her breath as she sat down, setting her bag at her feet. Deciding that she could wisely use this time to look over her Arithmancy notes, she poured a glass of pumpkin juice and propped her notebook against the jug. No sooner had she gotten through the first page than James Potter popped up in the seat across from her.  
  
"Hey James," she said, a bit surprised at seeing him at the Ravenclaw table.  
  
"Hey, what's up?"  
  
"Nothing much. Where's the rest of the posse?" Just then, Lily, Remus, and Rena sat down around James and Sara. James was looking a bit confused.  
  
"Posse?" he asked. Lily laughed out loud.  
  
"It's a muggle thing, you dolt!" Sara grinned at the expression on James' face at this remark, as did the others sitting around her. A question suddenly came to Sara's mind.  
  
"So how come you're all sitting over here?" James shrugged.  
  
"I dunno.....you did look kinda lonely, and I have been wanting to talk to you." Sara raised her eyebrows.  
  
"About?" James shrugged again, and Lily got an interested look on her face.  
  
"Yes, about what did you want to talk to her that absolutely couldn't wait until next period."  
  
"I dunno, just wanted to know how your first day is going, Sara."  
  
"Well, you saw what happened in Charms earlier---" she began, but was interrupted by Rena.  
  
"What'dyou mean, 'you saw what happened?'" She sounded mildly scandalized. "It sounds like you think it is a disaster that you're, you know, intelligent!"  
  
"Well, I didn't exactly want to start the term with the rep of a know-it- all." Sirius joined them at the table.  
  
"Well," he said, "that rep is sort of implied, with you being in Ravenclaw and all." Lily smacked the back of his head, then turned back to Sara.  
  
"Okay, so Charms went well. What about Arithmancy?"  
  
Sara told them about how she had found the room, met Paige's sister and Christian's brother, about how kind Professor Millstone was. She told them about being assigned to sit at a table with Bellatrix Black, and how she had offered to take Sara 'under her wing.' When she had finished, the others were throwing each other apprehensive looks; Sirius was scowling visibly.  
  
"What? What did I do?" Sara asked tentatively. James, Lily, Remus, and Rena all shot looks at Sirius, who, still scowling, shrugged.  
  
"You didn't do anything.....just, don't mingle too much with Bellatrix Black." Sara frowned. She was about to ask why, but restrained herself in time. If Sirius and the others weren't telling her something, she rationalized, they must have their reasons. Still staying silent, she nodded understandingly.  
  
"Actually," James said quite suddenly, making them all jump. "Why don't you take advantage of her offer, Sara? Ask her any questions that you might have, and tell us everything she says; everything that she tells you. Just don't tell her too much, and *don't* do anything to upset her." Once again, James shot Lily and Sirius meaningful looks, and both returned looks of understanding that Sara thought best not to question. Maybe they would tell her once she got to know them better. Sara agreed to the conditions.  
  
After that, lunch went quite smoothly, the six of them chattering away unconcernedly. Sara got to know everyone much better. They began to talk to each other about, mostly for her benefit, their own families, which for Sara herself was a touchy subject. Lily told them about how she was a muggle-born witch like Sara; how her parents were proud of her, but her older sister, Petunia, hated her for it and called her a freak.  
  
".....But I just threaten to hex her if she says anything about it.....she doesn't know that we aren't allowed to do magic outside of school!" They all laughed.  
  
"What about you, Rena?"  
  
"Well Remus and I are half-bloods," she said. "Our mum is a witch; dad's a muggle."  
  
"You mean 'was,'" Remus cut in, a dark look suddenly coming over his face. "He left when Mum told him she was a witch, right after she got pregnant with us. Haven't heard from him since."  
  
"'Course, Mum still makes him pay child support. She really doesn't need the money, but she said it was funny to watch him writhe and scream that she was a witch in a court full of muggles who don't know any better," Rena added, a smirk on her face. James and Sirius sniggered, and Remus and Rena slapped palms. Sara smiled.  
  
"Yeah, I'm a pureblood," James told them before Sara could ask. "Mum and Dad are really nice about it, though. They still respect muggles and muggle-borns though. I am an only child, which is alright, a bit lonely though," he added as an afterthought.  
  
"Well, I didn't get so lucky," Sirius said darkly. "I am a pureblood, too, but my whole family is obsessed with this pure-blood mania--they really want someone to purge the wizarding world of everyone with muggle blood. They hate me for not flinching at the sight of a muggle-born--and they shun anyone in the family who is halfway decent, including me. I have a younger brother, Regulus, he's in his second year here, and he is my parents' favorite child."  
  
"I haven't seen him hanging around you," Sara said. Sirius got an uncharacteristically disgusting look on his face.  
  
"You wouldn't, he's in Slytherin. The whole lot of them have been, with the exception of my uncle Alphard and my cousin Andromeda, and me, of course." He spat. Something suddenly clicked in Sara's mind.  
  
"Wait a moment," she said slowly. "Bellatrix Black---"  
  
"She's my cousin, yeah," Sirius spat again, his face scrunched up in distaste. "You're pretty quick, O'Hanlon-I gotta give you that." Sara smiled.  
  
"Well, I am in Ravenclaw, after all." Lily and Rena smiled at her. Sara suddenly noticed that two were missing from their number. "Where are Arabella and Peter?"  
  
"Remedial Potions lessons," said Lily, worry evitable in her green eyes. "Poor Bella..."  
  
"Remedial potions?"  
  
"Yeah, like, potions lessons for those wizarding folk who don't quite grasp the concepts so easily," said James rather lazily, grabbing a chicken-and- ham sandwich from a large platter on the table and taking a large bite. "Ffeeferraveemeasem," he said through a mouth full of sandwich. Sara hadn't understood a word he had said. Neither, apparently, did any of the others.  
  
"Care to clarify that for us, James?" Remus asked him, amusement in his voice. James swallowed.  
  
"PE - TER RA-THER NEEDS THEM," he said loudly in the tone one would use speaking to an elderly person who was hard-of hearing. He lowered his voice to its normal tone. "Pity Bella needs them too, though...she always did well in potions..." Sara glanced quickly back over at Sirius, who looked quite relieved that the topic was no longer about their families. She stowed her Arithmancy notes back into her bag, grabbed an apple and a turkey sandwich and shoved them both into her bag (after first wrapping the sandwich in a napkin), and stood up.  
  
"Umm...would one of you mind showing me where the owlery is quickly? I just need to find my owl and mail a letter..."  
  
"Of course," Lily said. "I'll show you how to get there-I keep forgetting that you don't know where it is." Sara smiled at her gratefully, and the two left the Great Hall. They rounded a corner and started up a staircase as Lily asked Sara about her own family.  
  
"We told you about ours," she said as they climbed the staircase. Sara did some very fast thinking, and decided to stick with the story that she had told Paige earlier if need be. She took a breath.  
  
"Well," she said slowly, "I am a muggle-born, and an only child, which is pretty boring. My best friend back home, Ariana, was like my sister. She still is...it's just that I don't get to see her all the time anymore. We used to live right across the street from one another, and we were in the same dorm back at Beaumore." Good, Sara thought, no parent talk.  
  
"What is Beaumore like? I mean, I've heard of the Salem Institute, but I never knew that the States had more than one wizarding school."  
  
"Well, most do go to Salem, but a lot of witches and wizards, like me, live much too far away. Beaumore used to be an old Muggle boarding school, so it has different buildings unlike Hogwarts."  
  
"Do you have houses like we do?"  
  
"Yes, but it isn't really the same thing. We have Andromeda, Calliope, Orion, and Zubeida dormitories. Instead of being sorted like you, with the hat, we wrote our own names on a slip of parchment given to us and threw them into a goblet of fire, and then the goblet spit them back out with the name of the dorm best suiting us printed on the reverse side. Andromeda is like Gryffindor, Calliope is like Ravenclaw, Orion is like Hufflepuff, and Zubeida is like Slytherin."  
  
"And you were in Calliope, then?"  
  
"No, actually," small lines of confusion appeared on Sara's forehead. "I was in Andromeda. That's odd...unless-" her mind went back to what the Sorting hat had told her the day before. It had said that her courage had been hampered by an event-her parents' deaths.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh, it's nothing," Sara said a little too quickly. They rounded another corner and made their way up a long, spiral staircase. Somehow, Lily sensed that this subject made Sara uncomfortable, and she was grateful for it. They climbed the staircase in silence. At the top, a small corridor opened into a very high-ceilinged round room, with several open windows and a straw-covered floor. The room, the Owlery, was inhabited by dozens upon dozens of owls; some belonging to students, and others school owls.  
  
Sara was craning her neck, searching for Athena, when she heard her familiar dulcet hooting, turned, and saw her fluttering down from a high perch. She landed on Sara's arm and nuzzled her affectionately; Sara couldn't help but smile.  
  
"This your owl, then? Yes, I remember her from yesterday," Lily smiled, stroking Athena's cream-colored plumage. Sara dug her letter to Ariana out of her bag, rereading it one last time:  
  
Dear Ariana,  
  
How is it back home? I am currently sitting on a train on the way to my new school. It is called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry-what a name! I miss you and everyone back home. Everything here is strange, including the people. They aren't mean or anything, just foreign. I am not used to the accent, the new money, anything. I want to come home, to go back to Beaumore with you like always...but things change, I guess...though not always for the better. I am adjusting to the change well-but guess what? Here, school starts when you are 11 instead of 10, so I have to repeat my fifth grade year here! It's cool, cuz I know the stuff already, but it does feel like the waste of a year's time. Send my love to everyone back home, and write back soon! Love 'n' stuff, Sara  
  
Nodding with satisfaction, Sara rolled up the parchment and tied it to Athena's leg.  
  
"Now, this is for Ariana, Athena," Sara told her owl. "It is a very long journey, so you take as long as you need, okay? I don't want you to get hurt. If you aren't up to it, I can send a different owl, alright?" Athena nipped her finger in an affectionate manner, hooted, and flew off into the clear blue sky. Sara watched her until she disappeared, then turned back to Lily, who was mailing off a letter of her own with a black- feathered owl not much taller than hers.  
  
"I'm almost finished," she said, tying the parchment to the owl's leg securely. The owl turned its head and Sara caught a glimpse of startlingly green eyes much like Lily's own. "There," she said with satisfaction. "Sara, this is my owl, Jasmine," Lily told her proudly. Jasmine the owl, sensing that Lily had finished with her, went soaring gracefully out of the window into the dying summer breeze.  
  
Sara watched the owl for a moment, then looked at her watch: it was seven after noon: she needed to get back to the dormitory soon for her books. She turned to Lily.  
  
"Shall we go then?" she asked. Lily nodded, and they turned and left. Winding their way back, they finally reached the fourth floor and they parted ways, promising to meet again in Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
Sara made her way down the corridor and, upon coming to the statue, gave the password and went inside, making her way up to her dormitory. She quickly emptied her bag of Arithmancy and Charms books, and shoved her Defense book into it. Finding the sandwich from earlier, she sat on the foot of her bed cross-legged and ate in silence, looking over the previously disregarded Arithmancy notes. At 12:30, she crammed a box of potion ingredients into her bag and set off again, this time for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.  
  
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Yeah, I know, weird place to stop-but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any more for chapter 6!  
  
Unfortunately, as you are all unpleasantly aware, school starts in less than a month, and I have a bit of summer reading to get on with, so my writing will have to take the back burner for a while-but have no fear! I will still try to update as much as I can, and the next chapter should be up in the next 20 days (before school starts). Plus, soccer (football for all you Brits out there) conditioning is starting up as well...so, yeah.  
  
PLEASE KEEP UP THE REVIEWING!!!  
  
And, as always, thank you to Gryffindor Gal and VampireBat for helping to bring my total of reviews up to 18-even though a whole one person reviewed for chapter 5...that is some sort of all-time low, even for me ( Oh well  
  
Best wishes for the end of the summer!  
  
~*~*Callista Rose*~*~ 


	7. Hisses and Roars

DISCLAIMER: You know, I'm getting sort of tired of writing these, so I'm not gonna. If you really have the impulse to read it, hit the back button on your browser and reread the disclaimer on that page.  
  
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CHAPTER 7  
  
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Defense Against the Dark Arts was exceptionally normal; all they had done was read theory and do an introduction and review for the class. The professor, one Acrisius Pantoliano, was a very energetic, young man of Italian descent who had a loud, commanding voice full of laughter and a lot of aggressive facial hair, though one could tell that he tried to keep it under control.  
  
When they sat down in his class (Sara had taken a seat between Sirius and Paige; the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sections of the classroom), he had, of course, collected their summer homework, and broke off from his funny voice and became serious for a moment. When this happened, everyone knew something was wrong (Sara found out from Sirius). Professor Pantoliano went to the front of the room and he tapped his wand on the desk.  
  
"Now," He said in a voice so serious that the class stared, "as you are all well aware, this is the year that you take your Ordinary Wizarding Levels. As you all know, these are extremely important exams, the results of which will affect the rest of your life, especially your future careers. Now, I don't want you to be intimidated, but I do want you all to be motivated to study hard this year, pay attention to all of your classes, and strive for top grades, all of you. Now!" he startled them all by suddenly putting the spunk back into his voice. "Defense Against the Dark Arts!"  
  
And so the lesson had begun, introductions and easy theories to warm them up to the more difficult work that Professor Pantoliano had promised would come starting the next few days. After the class was over, the professor dismissed them and Sara left with the rest, bidding Paige and Serenica goodbye and hurrying to tail the Gryffindors to Potions in the dungeons. Sirius noticed her tagging along with them.  
  
"Okay, O'Hanlon, you are pretty cool, I'll give you that, but still: drop the shadow thing, it's creepy!"  
  
"Oh, shove it, Sirius," Rena snapped at him. Sirius donned a hardly convincing look of innocence.  
  
"What?!?! What did I do? I merely suggested that Sara hang with her own race---"  
  
"Sirius--" Lily started warningly, glaring at him. Sara rolled her eyes.  
  
"I mean, the Ravenclaws; her own house, they are different from us--and -- WHAT?!?!" Lily and Rena rolled their eyes together. Remus laughed, an almost wolflike laugh.  
  
"Careful, girls, your eyes will pop out and roll away!" James said, laughter evident in his voice.  
  
"Yeah, you know the saying: It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye--then it's just a game: find the damn eye!" Sara laughed with the rest of them as they rounded another corner and started down a stony staircase. Sara heard Lily clearly mumble something that sounded very much like "I'm gonna kill you, Sirius." Sara smiled to herself again.  
  
"Seriously, though," Sara began. "I really would prefer to take classes with my house: At least I know a lot of people there. I didn't really have a choice, though."  
  
"How is that?" asked James, seeming somewhat concerned. Indeed, Sara saw that Rena and Remus had identical shadows of frown lines on their faces, and Lily and Sirius both had their eyebrows raised. So, for the third time, she explained her schedule problems to them.  
  
"I wondered how you were taking Arithmancy classes with Bellatrix," Sirius said as they walked under a low doorway into a dark, dingy room with many work stations with small cauldrons already on them each complete with brass scales and a set of glass vials. Sara's gaze wandered to the stone walls of the classroom, which were lined with shelf upon shelf of slimy things pickled in brines or alcohol, among other, she was sure, various potions. Overall, the lack of sunlight in the room gave off a feeling of decadence.  
  
The distant patter of feet on stone brought Sara back to reality, as Peter and Arabella burst through the door. panting.  
  
"We-didn't-want-to-be-late," Peter gasped, clutching a stitch in his side. He threw his bag onto a nearby table and sank gratefully into the wooden stood at the side of the desk. Arabella stood, panting slightly, in the doorway, her cheeks slightly flushed. She took her bag and sat down beside Peter at the table. Sara stood uncertain near the back of the classroom, silently, and waited. Slytherin students, along with a handful of Gryffindors, slowly filtered into the dungeon. It was time for the lesson to begin, and Sara took a seat at a table with Rena, Remus, and Lily.  
  
Quite suddenly, the doors burst open, and the figure that stood their with robes billowing out stood for a moment, silhouetted in the light from outside the classroom. It took a step forward, coming into focus in the dingy room.  
  
He was a thin man, with a pallid face and lank, mousy hair who held the wilted look of a plant kept in the dark. He swept up the aisle quickly, black robes billowing out behind him. Drawing level with his desk, he swooped around, reminding Sara suddenly of a large, black vulture, neck craned in hopes of spotting a particularly weak animal to attack. Unfortunately for Sara, as his eyes swept the room in search, he found one such victim. His eyes narrowed as he discovered Sara there. His eyes bored into hers, and, heeding the various warnings she'd received from her peers of this professor's temperament, stared back, willing herself not to blink too much.  
  
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" He muttered to himself in a raspy voice that sounded as though it hadn't been used in quite a long time. "And you are.....?" Sara kept her eyes steady.  
  
"Sara O'Hanlon, Professor." She tried to keep her voice clear and steady. The teacher's eyes narrowed.  
  
"I," he told her, "Am Professor Acrisius Baldo. One word," He raised his voice as a student behind Sara gave a cough that she was sure concealed a snigger. "About my name, and you will be disembowling toads before you can say the word." Sara saw, out of the corner of her eye, that Sirius had raised his hand, perhaps to ask which word that would be, when Arabella switly stopped him by kicking him under the desk. Professor Baldo was surveying Sara under critical eye. Then, quite suddenly, he spoke again.  
  
"Miss O'Hanlon, what would I get if I mixed 10 grams of streeler slime, an infusion of aconite, 3 drops of snake venom and porcupine quills?" Sara was a bit taken aback. Was this some sort of initiation? Every eye in the class seemed to be anticipating her answer, their owners with bated breath. She wracked her brain and a question came to mind.  
  
"How many porcupine quills, sir?" Out of the corner of her eye, James and Sirius shot her wide grins, while Remus, Rena and Lily all looked slightly fearful. Apparently, Baldo wasn't expecting this either.  
  
"What difference does it make?" He spat, voice full of venom.  
  
"Well, sir, if one adds the ingridients listed to 2 whole porcupine quills, then one would have a simple concoction to cure hiccoughs. With 5 crushed quills, however, a mild acid is developed which will burn a hole through virtually any surface." She took a quick breath and held it. They rest of the class was doing the same, though some also sported curiously triumphant looks on their faces. Professor Baldo looked quite as though he had been slapped in the face; obviously her answering the question hadn't had quite the effect he had hoped for. He recovered rather quickly from this blow, however, and hastily recomposed himself.  
  
"Fine, then. You know your basic potions formulas, then, do you? Well, how are you in the knowledge of ingredients? From where would you recover a bezoar?"  
  
"From the stomach of a goat, sir," Sara replied calmly, keeping her gaze fixed so she would not come off as being weak.  
  
"What are the 12 uses for dragon's blood?" She named each, counting them off with her fingers. She was uncomfortably aware that the entire class was shooting her looks of amazement.  
  
"What are the components of the Noxsonorus Draft?"  
  
"One shredded, skinned shrivelfig, 11 grams of 1:3 diluted bobotuber pus, and--" Sara broke off, searching her brain for the answer. She remembered doing this potion with her friend Kaleigh back home.....they had given it to a student they had deeply disliked--oh, yes! "--and two powdered lacewing flies." She smiled sweetly at the professor, knowing quite well that she had hit the nail on the head. To her surprise, Baldo gave a tiny nod of approval, looking mildly impressed.  
  
"Very well then, Miss O'Hanlon," he said, in the sort of voice of one not trying to give too much credit to someone else. He turned back to the class, who hurriedly pretended that they weren't impressed by Sara's knowledge of potions. "Well then-- the reason for asking about the Noxsonorus Draft is that we will be starting off your OWL year with that--" Sara settled back into her seat and began to copy down the extensive notes that were writing themselves up on the blackboard in a white substance, drawing diagrams and such when Professor Baldo flicked his wand in a particular manner.  
  
This room was muchless comfortable than the rest of the castle: the dungeon was cold, damp, and smelt of unpleasantly decaying matter. Sara shivered slightly in her seat. She kept up with her notes, though she knew it, there was nothing to lose by copying them again. After all, she thought, it might help her with the upcoming O.W.L.s coming up at the end of the year. She made a move to roll her eyes, but caught herself in time. Back in the US, they didn't take O.W.L.s like witches and wizards in England did. They took the Practical Magical Aptitude Tests and Theory Magical Aptitude Tests for each subject at the end of their own fifth grade, then went on to take courses to prepare for the Extremely Difficul Subject Exams at the end of the eighth grade, to determine their carreers after school. She shook her head slightly, careful not to let anyone notice this. Of course she had taken the PMATs and the TMATs herself last year; she hadn'tt done poorly, either. She had received a 10 on many, 9 on the rest, and 8 in history, yet she had passed, receiving a score of 86, which was exceptionally high, as the top score was a 90 (the grades were on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the worst).  
  
The rest of the class passed quickly: after being informed that at their next class they would be brewing the particular potions for themselves and reminded to bring their cauldrons and box of intermediate potions ingredients, they were dismissed. Sara walked silently level with Rena out of the dungeons. When sure they were out of earshot, Sirius turned and grinned at her widely.  
  
"What?" she asked him curiously, noticing the apparently unprovoked grin. Sirius chortled a bit.  
  
"You showed him!" He said, doing a sort of jig on the spot. "That was some seriously awesome question- um...answering!!!" He grinned more widely, if possible. James caught up beside Sara and gave her an identical grin. Sara was confused-she had only answered the professor's questions.  
  
"I don't get it," She said. "What did I do?"  
  
"Well, it's more that you-" James broke off, and Sara saw the reason immediately. Standing juxtaposition (hehe-there's your word for the day) blocking their path out of the dungeons, stood two boys about their age. One, who had lank, greasy, shoulder-length black hair and a sallow complexion had his arms crossed over his chest; the one standing next to him had white-blond hair that was slicked back, and a very pale, square face. Both wore Slytherin robes. James automatically stepped in front Lily, and both he and Sirius glared at the two boys. The one with the pale face stepped forward, wearing a very sour expression; he pushed through them, shoving Peter onto the floor. Remus and Rena got ugly looks on their faces as both drew their wands. He shoved Rena aside roughly and stopped when he saw Sara. His face was barely a foot and a half from hers, but she brought herself up to her full height as her eyes met his cold, steely ones.  
  
"So, you think it's funny, do you?" He asked in a cold, drawling voice. The boy with the greasy hair came up behind him, glaring at her. Sara hadn't a clue what he was talking about, so she told him so iin a strong, clear voice.  
  
"What did you say to me?" He challenged her to repeat the question, though Sara knew full well that he had heard her. Sara rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Don't you roll your eyes at me," he commanded, as if he thought she was out of place doing so. Sara raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Oh? And why not?" She asked, sounding innocent. He chose to ignore her.  
  
"What you did back there, in the dungeon. We Slytherins don't fancy mudblood Ravenclaws making a fool of our Head of House." Pink patches appeared in James' face.  
  
"Don't you dare talk to her like that, Malfoy," he growled, wand out and steadily pointed at the boy, Malfoy's, stomach. Malfoy sneered at him.  
  
"Oh, sticking up for his Mudblood girlfriend, now, it he, the little Potty?" he turned back to Sara, throwing her a look of loathing as he spoke. "Don't think you'll get away with what you did."  
  
"Oh, you mean knowing the answers? Because I was under the impression that when one is asked a question, one is expected to give an answer." Sirius snorted into his robes. Malfoy and his friend pulled out their wands, both aiming them at Sara. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Rena all readjusted the aim on their own wands. Sara dug into the pockets of her own robes for her wand.  
  
"What's going on here?" A prefect was making her way through the crowd to where they all were standing, breaking up the small crowd that had gathered around them. "Comon, no magic in the corridors, you know the rules. Put your wands away." Still glaring at each other, James and Malfoy put their wands away, as did the rest. Wand tucked safely back into her pocket, Sara saw Malfoy shoot a very vindictive look in Sara's direction before beckoning to his friend and stalking off. James let out a small sigh and stepped out from in front of Lily. They began the walk up to thier common rooms. Sara was the first to break the silence.  
  
"So I take it you all know those two Slytherins?" James sighed again, and Sirius scowled.  
  
"Yes," Remus said. "Lucius Malfoy and his sidekick, Severus Snape. They are two of the most horrible gits in the school."  
  
"I don't think that they possess the ability to say even one decent word to anybody, or even to hold their tongues when some horrible remark comes to mind," Rena put in. Sara noticed that she was still clenching her wand tightly in her hand. Sara shrugged.  
  
"Yes, well, they were just jealous that I knew the answers to Professor Baldo's questions." James sighed again.  
  
"Probably, but he still shouldn't have called you a-a--a you-know-what!" His face seemed rather pale. "I am surprised, usually he goes after Lily, they are really horrible, both of them."  
  
"Why would they go after Lily? Just because she's muggle-born?" Lily fidgeted a bit at the last bit.  
  
"Yes, that's exactly the reason, Sara," Lily told her quietly. James was still scowling. "They don't need any better reason to attack someone."  
  
"They've attacked her before," said James, glancing at Lily, as if to check that she was still safe there. "They set a black snake on her last year, and it bit her something terrible. She landed in the hospital wing for a week." Sara's eyes widened a bit. She tried hard not to feel scared: she did, after all, have a year more schooling than this Malfoy and Snape-- maybe there was a chance that she could outwit them or something, but if they were using dark magic--- The thought faded from her mind as quickly as it had come. They were all silent as they began to clib the wide, marble staircase that led to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers.  
  
"That's why they are in Slytherin, though. With their pure-blood mania and egocentric thinking. Yes, they belong in Slytherin, with all the other gits and bastards." Sirius put in, sounding somewhat miserable. Sara drew level with him and cast him a sideways glance.  
  
"But, your cousin....." Sirius snorted.  
  
"Yep, and my mum and dad, all cousins except for Andromeda, and my uncle Alphard--they were in Slytherin, the whole lot of them. And I don't care," he said suddenly, as though the thought had just struck him. "I hate them all. I want out of that horrible monstrous place." Sara didn't quite know what to say.  
  
"Well," she said, "You should really never take family for granted--" Sirius snorted. Rena laughed at her.  
  
"You sooo sound like a Hallmark card!" she laughed. Sirius looked confused.  
  
"Wallmart, what?" the girls giggled.  
  
"I'ts a miggle thing, Sirius," Lily laughed. Sirius grinned maliciously.  
  
"Lils, what's a 'miggle'? Is that something new you've made up?"  
  
"I misspoke, okay? Leave it!"  
  
"Miggle, miggle miggle miggle MIGGLE!!!" Sirius chanted, suddenly laughing maniacally. The rest of the group exchanged looks. Sara laughed a bit. Lily's face flushed.  
  
"Sirius, I'm gonna kill you!"  
  
"MIGGLE, MIGGLE, MIGGLE--" Sirius had now developed a sort of dance to go along with the mantra. James grinned broadly--he couldn't resist, and he joined in, followed by Remus and Peter joined the end of the line. It was an odd sight indeed: The four marauders doing a sort of line dance to the 'Miggle' chant. Rena slapped her forehead with her open hand and groaned.  
  
"Oh, no--it's contagious!" She said in the tone one would use after hearing that the world was coming to an end.  
  
"Girls," Lily told them gravelly, "It looks like we have the beginnings of an epidemic of 2S.L.S.D."  
  
"What?"  
  
"the Sirius Sudden Loss of Sanity Disorder."  
  
"Oh." She looked at the Marauders, who had added a few moves to the dance and started chanting 'MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT, PRONGS!'  
  
"Well in that case," Sara continued, "you must have stopped taking your medication. Give me your prescriptions and I will have them refilled for you." Lily and Rena snorted into their robes, and Arabella smiled.  
  
"What prescriptions?" Remus and James asked together, trying to sound innocent and failing dismally.  
  
***************  
  
And so they all went up to Gryffindor Tower, Sara heading back towards the statue of the eagle that concealed the entrance into Ravenclaw Tower. When she got back, she found her friends, who had, as it turned out, been kept over in Potions by a Hufflepuff who had knocked over a barrel of horned toads that had been waiting to be disemboweled ("Duffers, the lot of them," Basti said) and they had had to clean it up. Sara told them about her classes and her first day, they lot of them laughed and joked until Alaina and Serenica began a raucous game of exploding snap, successfully distracting those who had been studying until many of them had joined in on the game themselves.  
  
The rest of the day was normal; doing the little bit of homework she had with Paige in the library, chatting about qudditch and wizarding music, and playing gobstones and wizard chess (Sara narrowly beat Serenica but lost spectacularly to Noah, who, as Paige said, was the undefeated chess champion of Ravenclaw tower). At dinner time, she deposited her books in the dormitory and headed down to the Great Hall with the rest of them, not getting lost at all. She joined everyone else at the usual seats in the Great Hall, sitting down and filling her goblet with pumpkin juice.  
  
They chattered away, talking about this-and-that, Sara cutting herself a slice of shepherd's pie and eating rather than taling. She found that this was the best way to get to know her new friends. She was halfway through a dish of sprouts when sudden mayhem disrupted the Hall.  
  
The source of the commotion seemed to be the Slytherin table. Sara saw a small quantity of pink foam and bubbles streaming onto the floor. Looking around, Sirius caught Sara's eye and grinned at her: it only took a few seconds to see why.  
  
Sirius' wand was pointed at Malfoy, who had bubbles pouring out of his mouth. He seemed to be choking on them; his face was beginning to turn purple. Greasy-haired Snape was there, trying to help his friend, but kept jerking back suspiciously as though attatched to strings. Another look at the Gryffindor table, and she saw James jerking his wand in Snape's direction. Lily seemed to be trying to stop him, but he was ignoring her. Rena was smiling, arms crossed across her chest, but Remus had hidden his head behind a book, looking as if he didn't want to be noticed at the moment.  
  
Sara didn't know whether to laugh or to look horrified, and copromised by choking on a lot of pumpkin juice and concentrated hard on a particularly small sprout. All of her fellow Ravenclaw fifth-years stared, transfixed at the Slytherin table. Then, quite as suddenly as it had started, the bubbles disappeared, Snape launched himself forward (as the invisible strings no longer held himback) and crashed into the table, landing his face expertly in a tureen of tripe, and Malfoy's face turned its normal pale, now slightly twinged pink. They sat down quietly at their seats at the table, trying, and failing spectacularly, to keep a low profile. Many of the other students laughed, some looked confused, but most seemed to know who had caused the disruption.  
  
Sara saw James and Sirius exchange smug looks and tuck their wands away into their robes under the table out of the corner of her eye. Within a few moments, the rest of the students seemed to have forgotten the excitement; almost as if they were used to the interruptions. Paige turned to Sara. Noticing her shocked expression, she grinned.  
  
"Oh, don't worry," she said. "That sort of thing happens a lot here. It is usually also the same people who cause the mayhem." Across the table, Lisa rolled her eyes.  
  
"Yes, those specific Gryffindors do have a knack for getting themselves into trouble. They land in detention at least three times a week!" She shuddered, as if the thought of detention was comparable to a slow and painful death. Basti, Christian and Luke laughed.  
  
"Brilliant really. They do use the cleaning spell often, though, I think they need something new."  
  
"It'd be great to be able to curse all of those Slytherin gits without getting into trouble," Basti said dreamily. "Oh, the possibilities." He leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head, a dreamy look coming into his eyes. The others laughed, and Sara couldn't help but smile.  
  
"They could've been hurt, though!" she said. "Snape and Malfoy, I mean."  
  
"Oh, so you've met Hogwarts' biggest slimeball gits, have you?" Serenica asked. Sara nodded.  
  
"Yes, I had Potions with them just earlier. They are gits, but still, they could have been killed!" Alaina rolled her eyes at Sara.  
  
"Oh, puh-lease! Nothing, I repeat, notthing but embarassment could happen. All of the teachers are sitting in the room! They could have stopped the Marauders any time they wanted. No serious injury could have happened." She took in another forkful of her cherry cobbler, looking perfectly unconcerned.  
  
"I think that they rather like the entertainment, the teachers," Tabitha put in as an afterthought. She glanced over at the Gryffindor table, then said quite suddenly: "Sara, I think your friends are trying to get your attention." Indeed, the Marauders and Rena and Lily were waving her over, in the previously vain attempt to catch her eye. Sara rolled her eyes.  
  
"Excuse me, please," she told her comrades as she made her way easily across the hall to the Gryffindor able. She found them easily, and found that they had saved her a seat at the table.  
  
"Sit down," James told her kindly, grinning broadly. Sara crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Oh, come on!"  
  
"We won't bite, you know," Sirius grinned, exchanging a look with Remus, who shrugged. Lily caught her eye and nodded, so Sara took the empty seat beside Sirius. She looked at them, and suddenly decided not to beat around the bush.  
  
"What was that all about?"  
  
"What was what about?" Sirius and James tried, and failed, to look innocently surprised at the accusation. Remus and Lily rolled their eyes at one another, and Sara raised her eyebrow at them again.  
  
"Oh, that," Sirius smirked. "That was just a little start-of-term prank to get the year off to a good start."  
  
"Besides, we did want to show him how we felt about giving you the sort of welcome to the school that he did--"  
  
"We were teaching them about manners--"  
  
"--And keeping their language clean." Sara tried not to look too shocked that she was the main reason behind Malfoy's, er, cleaning-out.  
  
"Look," Rena said flatly, "this isn't exactly the first time that they have used that sort of language; like James said earlier, they have a habit of attacking muggle-borns, both verbally and physically. They haven't stopped or eased up since they started in the first year. They are gits, and we are--er--trying to help them see the errors of their slimy ways." Sara nodded slowly. She looked around at their faces, all smiling now.  
  
"Don't you guys get in trouble?" The four marauders exchanged looks, and burst out into a fit of laughter.  
  
"Of course we get into trouble!" Sirius roared. "Jamesie and I must have a record for the number of detentions we've gotten in the last years!"  
  
"They'll be coming over here to give those two detentions any moment now!" Remus told her, indicating Sirius and James.  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"Well, in case you didn't notice, I played no part in the last little escapade, but I am involved in the plotting as much as the rest are."  
  
"Yeah," said Sirius, suddenly smirking (a/n hehe, an alliteration!). "But he's been trying to keep his shiny new Prefect's badge clean." He and James and Peter sniggered, and Remus turned a bit red, trying to hide a glimmer of silver that was attached to the front of his robes.  
  
"That's not really true," he said, stuffing the badge out of sight. "Actually, I am pretty sure that Dumbledore chose me because, first of all, you two have been in detention way more than I have, and I get the better marks. Besides, I think that he is hoping that I will be able to keep you from doing anything stupid." He smirked at them. Sirius and James exchanged looks and Sirius suddenly became extremely excited.  
  
"So you have the power to put us in detention, now?" He asked Remus, but he didn't sound worried in the least. On the contrary, he sounded as if Christmas had come three months early. "AWESOME!!!!!"  
  
"He's trying to break the school record," Lily said quietly, noticing Sara's puzzled look at Sirius' ecstasy. The eight of them stood up and stretched, leaving the Great Hall. As they walked out the door, Sirius and James received a small, barely audible round of applause from the Gryffindor table and several death glares from the Slytherins. Once in the entrance hall, Sirius could no longer contain himself and burst into the dance that he had been doing earlier.  
  
"Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!" he chanted, as James and Peter joined him. Lily turned to Remus and began to say "Now, really," but was too late. The four Marauders were doing the line dance again, chanting "Oh, yeah! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs!" Rena and Lily groaned together.  
  
"Oh, no! It really is contagious!"  
  
"2S.L.S.D. strikes again!"  
  
"And you still haven't given me your prescriptions!" Sara said, trying to sound stern. She held out her hand and tapped her foot expectantly.  
  
"What prescriptions?" they asked innocently. Just then, Professor McGonagall approached them. The line dance was abruptly halted as she stopped, just feet from them.  
  
"Potter, Black, detention. You know what for," The accused parties were trying, and failing horribly, to look innocent. Halfway through the struggle, they gave up and grinned broadly at one another. The Professor, puzzled, decided not to inquire further and rolled her eyes as she turned her back on them. Sirius threw one arm each around Sara and Rena, who were closest to him.  
  
"I feel that this is the start of a beautiful year!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
So that was chapter 7? Pleeease REVIEW! Tell me if u liked it or didn't! I'm so tired of getting one review per chapter (and it has been the same person, too!)---this merits a major shout-out, tho.  
  
VAMPIRE BAT-THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! Your reviews mean a lot to me, and it is good to know that you actually come back and read my story!!! Luv ya, hun (  
  
So, here is what I have decided..  
  
NO CHAPTER 8 UNTIL I GET AT LEAST 3 REVIEWS FOR MY STORY! Muahahahaha  
  
*she's lost it!  
  
No, I just want reviews! Is that so much to ask?  
  
*Whatever---anyways, guys, I think you should review or my sister will have a mental breakdown and not write anymore...yeah. Stick around for chapter 8! 


	8. Fitting In

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone you recognize from JKR's books, nor am I making money off of writing this story. Please don't sue me!

Wow…it's been forever since I updated. I know that my reviews are really down, but now I'm more continuing it because I want to.

Was anybody else enraged beyond words at the sixth book? (no spoilers in here, btw)

On with the story…

* * *

SIT VIS TECUM—Chapter 8

* * *

Sara was no longer surprised in the mornings when a sudden rush of fluttering wings announced the arrival of the mail. In fact, this morning, she only glanced about nonchalantly, sipping her tea, until the feel of a light weight on her shoulder made her look around.

"Hey, Sara, is that your owl?" Alaina asked, absentmindedly twirling a lock of her hair with her finger. Sara smiled and Athena hopped down from her shoulder and stuck out her leg.

"Hey, Athena," Sara cooed as the owl gave her an affectionate nip on the finger. Sara, noticing a scroll attached to the owl's leg, untied the string smiling. "I can't believe you're back already! I expected that it would take you a month, and it's only been two weeks. Was the trip agreeable?"

Athena gave a hoot, nibbled a piece of ham Sara gave her, and took off toward the owlery to have a rest. Others at the table were staring the parchment curiously, waiting for her to open it.

"Who's that from?" Noah asked from beside her, peering around an Herbology book (they had a quiz that day and he had not studied yet).

"It's from Ariana, back in the States," Sara replied, noticing now that the scroll was heavier than she'd expected. Noah nodded as she unrolled what turned out to be two sheets of parchment covered with Ariana's neat script. Smiling, she began to read:

_Dear Sara,_

_I'm sooo glad to hear from you! School started up again last week, and things are pretty much the same as always here. Except, of course, that you aren't here. We all miss you a lot, and wish you never had to leave._

_So how is merry old England, anyway? Are you getting the accent down? When you write back to me, you'll have to tell me about your classes and your new friends. What's the school like? _

_Okay, so that's all that I have to say right now. Everyone has been eager to talk to you, though, so the other roll of parchment attached to this is messages from other people. _

_Write me back soon! If you ever feel down about anything, send me an express owl, kay? Be yourself, and you'll be fine. _

_Love Ya,_

_Ariana_

_P.S.--Find a hot guy with an accent for me!_

Sara grinned, switching her attention to the second roll of parchment. Indeed, there were short notes from a lot of her friends. All of them contained messages of well-wishing and bits of humor and comfort. As she read through them, she was hit with a wave of euphoria at knowing that she was missed and loved back home, that they hadn't forgotten about her.

Then again, she thought, she wouldn't exactly be an easy person to forget.

Sara smiled to herself as she thought back to the Beaumore days. She had been such a quirky person, always wanting to conspire with others and always playing pranks on people, particularly the Zubeidas, or anyone else that had recently ticked off her or one of her friends.

Actually, of all of her friends, she had mainly been the plotter of it all. Her friends Ariana, Austin, Maria and Frankie were mostly the people who gathered the supplies and put the plan into action. She mainly just conceived the plan.

Sara went upstairs to the Ravenclaw dormitory with the others to retrieve her bag and books for Herbology, the first class of the day. As it was a class with the Slytherins, she didn't look forward to it very much, especially because of Snape and Malfoy.

Ever since their run-in on her first day at Hogwarts, they gave her venomous looks each time that they saw her. This was fine with Sara, just as long as they didn't try to curse her with their wands. She generally just ignored their looks, which only seemed to make them angrier. Personally, Sara could not care less whether or not the scumbags thought she was a piece of filth, because she thought the equal of them.

Once she had crammed her Herbology textbook and notebook into her bag, she trudged off through the dewy grass to the greenhouses with the rest of her peers. The sun was up, illuminating the grounds in the morning light. The group entered the greenhouse to find that the Slytherins had not yet arrived. They set their bags down on the tables in Greenhouse Two and sat down.

"Well," Noah said, interlocking and stretching his fingers out. "I hope that they get here soon. The sooner we start, the earlier we get out of here."

"Oh, shut up Noah," Lisa said, setting her book and note paper up on the table in preparation for the start of class. "You're only saying that because you don't like getting your fingers dirty." Noah rolled his eyes, but everyone there sniggered. Sara had learned of Noah's dirt phobia during their very fist Herbology class of the term when he had refused to pick a dead lacewing fly out of the pot of the Zedlmip they were trying to cultivate. He hated the thought of touching dirt, which amused them all.

"Whatever," he mumbled. The greenhouse door swung open then and a group of Slytherin 5th-years walked in, smirks on their doltish faces for no apparent reason at all. Sara chose to ignore them; if they were trying to make an entrance, she wasn't giving them that satisfaction. As she was setting out her books in front of her, though, she heard a cold, drawling voice float over her shoulder.

"Well, well, well," Malfoy said, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's the Yankee Mudblood smart-ass."

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, turning around in her seat to face him better. There was a short pause, and it became apparent to her that Malfoy had no comeback or additional commentary for her. Instead, he just gave her his best sneer.

"You heard me." He swished his cloak dramatically and sat down, quietly whispering among the other Sytherins. Sara rolled her eyes and began a new page in her notebook for the day's Herbology lesson, then noticed an eerie stillness around her.

"What?" She asked her classmates. They threw each other looks of concern, finally staring at her. The look in their eyes was one of shock. "What?" she asked again, with more urgency.

"Um--" Paige began, "What was that about?" Sara rolled her eyes again.

"What? Malfoy calling me a few lame names?"

"Sara, that was more than lame names," Serenica said, concern in her eyes. "That was an awful combination of some of the worst names you could have been called."

"I don't see your point," Sara told them quite bluntly. "They're just a few names made up by some gits who aren't satisfied with their own pathetic lives--" but her words were broken when Professor Sprout, a plump young witch with flyaway red hair, took her post at the front of the classroom and commanded their silence.

"Today," she began, "we will be starting our lesson focusing on bowtruckles. Now the bowtruckle is a very shy creature--" Sara dipped her quill into her inkwell and began scratching notes on her paper absentmindedly. She needed to talk to someone, to get another opinion...

"Of course they'd think that," Rena said pointedly over a half-moon pie three hours later at lunchtime. Sara's Ravenclaw friends were all at the library, and Sara, having no real need to study, found herself invited again to sit at the Griffyndor table with the Marauders and Company.

"Why? I mean, I get the whole, you know, MB thing," she was careful to use that acronym for Mudblood, because although she didn't particularly care, James had said that it disturbed Lily. "But that other stuff was just old insults."

"Maybe they were to you," Sirius told her, "but Ravenclaws generally get sort of nutty when their intelligence capacity is mocked."

"Wow, Sirius, such big words you used!" James said in mock astonishment.

"Ha ha ha," Sirius said.

"Yeah, but seriously--"

"Thaaaat's me!" Sirius said in the voice of a game show host, making a grand sweeping gesture with his hand and managing to knock over Lily's glass of water, which splashed over the table.

"Way to go, Mr. Suave," Lily said sarcastically, waving her wand and drying the spill. Sirius chose to ignore her.

"Anyway, Sara, your friends probably took way more offense to the 'smart ass' comment than they should have. That in combination with the MB thing, topped with the 'Yankee' comment, well, it just upset them more than it probably should have," Rena finished expertly.

"I guess that makes sense," Sara said, adding sugar to her cup of tea. "But it's still weird, the way that they overreacted."

"They were probably scared, too," Remus said. "They know what happens when Malfoy gets angry; they've seen it before. They probably think that you being on his bad side will put them in danger as well."

"That's ridiculous!" Sara exclaimed. "Why would they think that?"

"Because it's true," Lily said quietly. Everyone turned to look at her. Sara could tell, simply by the expressions of sympathy on everyone's faces, that she was right.

Of course, nobody was about to admit that to her.

"No it's not, Lily," James said soothingly, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Yes it is," she said miserably. "How many times have you guys been cursed and put in detention because of me?" Sara saw Sirius and James exchanging serious looks, which, by the matching looks on Remus' and Rena's faces, was cause for concern.

"Never," James said quickly. "We got into that trouble because of things that we did or said; not because of you."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Sirius said quickly. Lily shrugged.

"Okay," she said. Sara thought that she looked as though she didn't quite believe them, but went along with it. There was a pause.

"So, Sara, how's merry old England suiting you?" As much as she knew that it was a diversion on purpose, she couldn't help but laugh a little bit. Sirius didn't seem to realize that, not only had he asked her this question at least once a day since her arrival, but that the way he'd phrased it had appeared verbatim in the letter she'd received that morning from Ariana.

Sirius also didn't quite see that she wasn't laughing at him, but at the irony of the situation.

"You know, O'Hanlon, that wasn't supposed to be funny," he said, an annoyed blush coming to his cheeks.

"Again, Sirius, cut the last name crap," Lily said, giving a small smile. The others visibly relaxed.

"No, it's not that, Sirius, honestly." She pulled the letter from her bag. "It's just that I got a letter from my friend in the States today, and she asked the exact same question." Lily smiled.

"Oh, she wrote back to you already? What did she say?"

"Oh, you know, she gave me an update from Beaumore, wanted me to tell her how school was going here, stuff like that."

"Do you think--" Lily began. "Do you think I could read it?" Sara hesitated.

"I guess so." She shrugged and handed the letter over. James and Rena, who sat closest to her, leaned over, and Sirius hopped up and read over their shoulders.

"Could I read it when they're finished?" Rena asked.

"Sure, no problem." Sara finished her tea and looked up again at Lily, James and Sirius, whose eyes were skimming the lines on the page.

"Hey, this girl totally stole my question!" Sirius exclaimed when he came across the line about 'merry old England.'

"She doesn't even know you, mate," James reminded him exasperatedly, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but she could," Sirius said cunningly, raising an eyebrow and pointing to a line on the page.

"'P_.S.--Find a hot guy with an accent for me_,'" Lily read. She laughed. "Really Sirius."

"Oh, come on, she said a 'hot guy with an accent.'" He raised his eyebrows and made a gesture toward himself with his hand. "Helloooo."

"Hi," James said. "Okay, so she wants a good-looking guy with an accent, why would she want to know _you_?" This remark was rewarded with smack on James' head. "Hey!"

"Hey. I could totally be that guy. I want to write her back and send a picture!"

"That's a bit egotistical of you," Remus said, looking up from whatever it was that he was writing. "Could I see that letter?"

"I had dibs on it next, Remmie," Rena said. Remus winced.

"I'll share it with you if you stop calling me Remmie."

"Deal," Rena said, looking expectantly at Lily. She handed over the first sheet of parchment, holding the other in her hands. Rena and Remus leaned in to read, but something made Lily frown.

"Hey Sara," she began in a questioning tone she didn't like. A defense mechanism somewhere kicked in and she desperately cast her eyes around the table, mind racing, to anything other than what Lily was talking about. Just as she had opened her mouth to draw breath--

"What's that for, Remus?" she blurted out, noticing his drawing and realizing that it was a lunar chart.

Everyone looked stunned. Their eyes turned to her, and initially she thought that their shocked expressions were because of her cutting Lily off. A few very pregnant moments later, she realized that she had unwittingly pushed a button in an area that she should have, instinct told her, left alone.

"Lunar chart for Divination," he said quickly, trying to shove it out of sight. She was about to forget the whole thing, until she remembered--

"Wait a second, I'm in Divination with you, and that wasn't part of our homework." His eyes widened slightly and he turned his head away. Sara looked around and saw all of them throwing cautionary glances at one another.

"Oh, um..." she began, working up an excuse. "I am supposed to meet the other Ravenclaws in the library--actually, I was supposed to meet them five minutes ago. Catch you later."

Sara quickly gathered her letter back from Lily and Rena and shoved it into her bag. Hoisting the bag over her shoulder, she swung her legs over the bench and began to walk out of the Great Hall, not looking back until she was safely back in the entrance hall. She exhaled and leaned back against the stone wall of the hall, closing her eyes.

That had been closed. She really had no choice now but to go to the library to find her other friends there, maybe study a bit. She set off in that direction, thoughts and adrenaline still racing, though the near-miss incident was over. Frowning, Sara wondered what it was that Lily was going to ask her exactly.

She stopped walking, dug the letter out of her bag again, and quickly skimmed through the first page, then the second. She paused in the middle of the second page.

_I'm so sorry about your parents._

It was at the beginning of the message that her friend Austin had written to her. She must have missed in the beginning when she'd read it because it had seemed so innocuous and normal to her.

Whatever. The point was that she was supposed to be in panic mode (which she was) and trying to make up excuses (which she needed to). She needed to have a fib to tell Lily--or, rather, everyone, as Lily had probably shared what she had read with all of them.

There was a little thing in the back of her mind that said it wasn't a big deal. She should just tell them the truth and be done with it. It was a good idea, really.

The idea seemed like a real possibility in her mind for about a fraction of a second. Until she remembered the reason why she hadn't done that in the first place.

She hated the pity. Period. She hated the looks that she got from everyone who looked at her, everyone who whispered. Sara didn't want to be singled out, called an orphan, any of it. Maybe when the time was right, she would tell them, but not yet.

Sara adjusted her backpack, arriving in the library. She quickly spotted her friends all sitting around a table, doing homework as usual. She hid a smile as she made her way over to the table.

"Got room for one more?" she asked.

"Sure," Connor said quickly, shifting a small stack of books next to him so that she could sit down between him and Tabitha. Sara pulled up a chair and sat down with her bag on her lap.

"What are you up to?" Connor asked quietly. Sara pulled out a book of Rune translations.

"Just some Ancient Runes homework," she said.

"Great," Connor said. "Maybe we could work together."

"Sure," Sara said, opening the book and beginning to translate. The two of them didn't really work together, per se--it was more like Sara working quickly and Connor asking for help when he got stuck.

"Wow, you're fast," he commented when she finished all of the fifty lines of translation in a quarter of an hour. "It usually takes me over an hour to do a rune translation like that."

"Well, you know, I've taken Runes for a while now, I guess I'm just used to it," she shrugged, tucking her completed translation back into her bag. When she looked up, Connor was giving her a weird look, the kind that made a person feel odd even though the look itself may not have been meant to evoke those types of feelings. "What?"

"Nothing," he answered quickly in the direction of his kneecap, a slight flush coming into his cheeks. "Is it etix or ettix that means wing?"

"Ettix, double 't,'" she said. She felt the situation growing slightly awkward and pulled out another book to read. This one was a book that was given to her by Professor Dumbledore for the class that she was taking with him.

This course wasn't really a course in the curriculum, but it was a special thing that she did because Professor Dumbledore felt that she "wasn't being challenged enough with her current course schedule." She didn't mind, though, because it was turning out to be one of her favorite classes.

Supplemental Education, as it was called, was taught by Dumbledore himself. Her first day in his office with him, she had been nervous about the class; she hadn't known what to expect. It turned out, though, that Dumbledore didn't know either.

"Miss O'Hanlon," he had said, peering over his half-moon spectacles at her. "This course has no real set curriculum yet. You will be setting it yourself." Sara had been slightly puzzled at this.

"I don't understand, Professor; do you mean that I get to choose what I learn in here?" Professor Dumbledore had smiled at her.

"That's quite right," he said. "My only requirement is that you learn something new each week."

Then he had given Sara a book to look through in order to get ideas about what she wanted to study. That was the book she currently leafed through, sitting in the library with her friends. She had marked a few of the pages and was trying to decide what was most interesting to her.

"Hey, what's that book for?" Paige asked her curiously, indicating the old, worn, battered book that Sara read out of.

"Oh, this is for my Supplemental Education class. Dumbledore wants me to have a subject chosen by Wednesday when I go to the lesson." Paige gave a nod of understanding. Sara had explained the course to her friends previously, as they had all been very curious.

"Oh, ok," she said, going back to her Arithmancy homework. "Sara, what's the second flux of 7x-21?"

"Zero."

"Oh, thanks."

"No problem," she smiled. Sara sat back in her chair and began to read, but her mind suddenly flip-flopped. She couldn't concentrate on her book when the strange behaviors of her Gryffindor friends popped into her mind.

They were acting strange, very out of the ordinary. What was with Remus' lunar chart? They were all acting like there was a huge secret that she was about to uncover and shouldn't. Remus had mentioned not feeling his best, but he shot his best friends a look and they had understood. Sara wanted to come out and ask them what was going on, but she didn't want to lose their trust so early in the year.

She went back to trying to read until she gave up and did her essay and sketches for Herbology class. She wouldn't see the others until Double Transfiguration that afternoon.

History of Magic was, as always, a total bore. She sat still in her seat taking random notes at intervals when she didn't feel as though she was about to fall asleep. It was a slightly hellish hour of listening to Professor Binns' droning, monotonous voice.

"I wish the old cook would croak and get it over with," Sirius once said. "But wait--he's already dead."

"What a pity." James had kicked in, smiling.

History of Magic finally ended and, after a quick, trip back to the dorms for her books, hurried off to Transfiguration. Though the class was more challenging than the others, and she knew most of the coursework already, Transfiguration was one of her favorite classes, save for Supplemental Education. She turned into McGonagall's classroom and took her seat next to Noah and behind Alaina.

"Hey," she said in their general direction as she sat down, unclasping her bag and yanking out fresh parchment, a quill and ink, and her textbook. Her wand, of course, was stowed safely in the pocket of her robes. Alaina responded by tossing her mass of silky, strawberry-blond hair back onto Sara's desk, where it nearly covered her things. Lifting several strands, she saw that some hair had landed in her inkwell. "_Scourgify,_" she muttered after retrieving her wand.

"What's wrong?" Alaina asked, sliding further down in her seat. Sweeping her arm behind her head, she gathered her flowing tresses and craned her neck back to look at Sara.

"Nothing, some of your hair just landed in my inkwell when you tossed it," she began. "It's not a big deal," she said at the look of alarm that appeared on her friend's face. "It was easy to remove."

"That was cool, though," said Noah, looking at Sara with an expression of mild admiration that had begun with the teacup incident in Charms weeks ago. Sara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Every time she uttered even the simplest incantation, he looked at her as if he had never seen anything quite like her before; it was like that with most of the Ravenclaws she knew, but in Noah and Connor it was the worst, and she was beginning to feel a slight sense of annoyance. Come to think of it, the only people who didn't goggle at her were her Gryffindor friends (who, she was reminded painfully, seemed to be acting strangely toward her, but for different reasons. What they were, she didn't know and didn't want to hazard a guess.

"Oh, come off it, Noah," she said, rearranging the items on her desk. "It's just a dumb cleaning charm, anyone could do it." Noah shrugged.

"I can't control mine that well," he said. Sara wasn't entirely sure of what to say to this, so it was a very good thing that, at that moment, a small crowd of Gryffindor students entered the room, headed by Sirius and James. They seemed to be quite keen on not only trying to avoid her eyes but at the same time to steal glances at her. This confirmed her previous suspicion and fear that Lily had shared that letter with everyone.

"But that doesn't make sense," Paige said quietly, jabbing at the rat trying to escape from her table several minutes later. "I thought that they were your _friends_."

"Yeah, they are, I think," she said, successfully vanishing her rat along with the droppings it had left on her desk.

"Excellent, that's excellent, Miss O'Hanlon," Professor McGonagall said approvingly, swooping over to where Sara was sitting and promptly handing her another rat. "Try this one, just to make sure you've got it." The rat cowered and gave a feeble squeal as it disappeared from the desk. McGonagall beamed, continuing on to check on the progress of her other pupils. Sara simply shrugged, trying desperately to get people to go back to their own work.

"Sssssst," she heard a low hiss from her left. "Sara!" Sara turned and saw Rena motioning her to join them and mouthing the words 'come here.' She excused herself from the Ravenclaw circle. The others widened the circle for Sara to join them.

"Cool trick," Sirius said, grinning. "Think that you're good enough to vanish Malfoy yet?" Sara gave a small smile.

"Well," she said, her voice low, "I doubt it, but Snape already resembles a rat enough that maybe we can manage with him." James snorted, perhaps too loudly, causing Professor McGonagall to look toward them with one eyebrow raised.

"I do hope," she began, "that you are receiving help from Miss O'Hanlon in vanishing your rodents."

"Oh, yes, Professor," Sirius said in mock seriousness. "I can do it, see?" he pronounced the incantation and waved his wand, but only the head and the tail of the rat vanished successfully. McGonagall nodded slowly.

"I see," she said, approaching him and restoring his rat to the whole. "Well, at least you have vanished parts of it." She turned and observed the Ravenclaw tables for a moment, then made her way back toward her seat at the front of the room. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Well, Sirius," Lily began. "I think you could do with a bit more practice, anyway." He muttered something to himself. Remus had vanished his own rat (though he had to give it one more go; the tail was still wriggling on his desk), as had Lily and James. Arabella and Peter had made no progress whatsoever.

She was beginning to feel sorry for Arabella; she had learned from Serenica that she was a Squib, and was not likely to do well as far as magic was concerned. She was, however, one of the most friendly and accepting people that Sara had ever met, though was quite shy and reserved sometimes.

Peter Pettigrew, however, turned out to be a rather annoying little twit. He clung to James and Sirius (but mostly to James) as if they were his life-support system. As far as Sara could tell, he didn't have nearly as much magical ability as any of his friends (hence, the remedial potions and tutoring). Frankly, she couldn't see why they even put up with him, but they must have their own reasons. She watched as his beady eyes never left the rat he should have been vanishing, as he muttered to himself under his breath and made a few hopeless wand movements.

Sara absentmindedly twirled her wand in her fingers; as her rats were gone, she had nothing left to do but the homework that Professor McGonagall had written on the board (a foot of parchment on the common errors made in vanishing attempts and how to avoid them). Naturally, she did what anyone in this situation would do: she procrastinated.

It was lucky, though, that Sirius spoke up again, having managed, this time, to vanish everything but the whiskers of his rat.

"Hey, O'Hanlon," he started, making a quick evasive move as Lily made to hit him over the head, "D'you reckon I could see a photo of your friend, the one who wrote you, so that I can see if it would be worthwhile to write her back?" He smiled hopefully, despite the fact that Lily and Rena were both rolling their eyes and one of them had muttered something that sounded very much like 'prat' at her rat. Sara shrugged.

"Sure, I guess. I have a photo in my dormitory of her and a bunch of my other friends from home, if you're interested." Sirius smiled, and some of the others, particularly Lily, looked interested, too.

"Excellent," he said, vanishing the remaining rat whiskers. "I'll have to write her and introduce myself." James snorted.

"Yeah, that'll be great," he said, putting on a macho voice and mocking Sirius until he had a slight embarrassed flush appear in his cheeks. He muttered something under his breath and went silent.

When Transfiguration had ended, everyone stood up and shoved books into bags and wands into robe pockets as they moved the desks back to their original positions. As the rest of the class filed out of the door, Sara slung her bag over her shoulder and started to leave with the rest.

"Wait one moment please, Miss O'Hanlon," Professor McGonagall said. Lily and Rena glanced at each other, then nodded their support before leaving the room. Sara turned and crossed the room, making her way to the professors' desk.

"Yes, ma'am?" she asked politely, an expression of mild confusion on her face.

"I just wanted to ask you how you are doing here," the professor said, a kind, concerned expression on her face. She gave Sara a kind smile.

"I'm, um, I'm okay, Professor," she said, now aware that she was fidgeting. She stood still for a few moments, determined not to let Professor McGonagall think she was nervous. "I rather like it here. It's very different from Beaumore, but it's okay." Professor McGonagall sat at her desk, beginning to pack up her belongings, since her last class of the day was finished.

"Alright. I checked with your other professors, and your coursework has been outstanding in every subject, even Arithmancy," she said, adding this last bit in response to Sara's opening her mouth to question that subject. "In fact," she continued, "You seem to have taken the top of the class, as far as marks are concerned. Of course, we haven't reached the end of the grading period yet, so anything could happen."

"Please excuse my saying so, Professor," Sara said, fixing her eyes upon McGonagall's, "but I don't think that my work will be half as impressive next year, when I don't know what I'm doing."

"Ah, yes," the professor said, eyeing Sara as though she were a mildly confusing book. "I daresay that you will perform exceptionally well. I must admit, though, that this year's work will be particularly difficult, as I'm sure you have heard that all in your year will be taking their Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations in June, so all of the professors will be preparing you all for the tests."

"Yes, I have heard about those. I will be taking those examination as well, won't I?"

"Yes," McGonagall said, a strange, unreadable expression on her face. "I am afraid that the Sorcery Aptitude Tests that you and your schoolmates took two years back to not equal anything that you do here, and therefore those test scores have no merit at this school, or even in this country. You will be able to prove yourself, however, through the O.W.L.s later in the year."

Sara nodded, briefly stunned. So all the studying and testing that she and her classmates in the States had done didn't matter at all. She looked down at her feet. It wasn't as though she didn't expect this, of course, but the news still came as a tiny bit of a surprise. She ignored her disappointment as she adjusted her bag of schoolbooks and parchment on her shoulder.

"Is there anything, Miss O'Hanlon, anything at all, that you want to talk about?" Professor McGonagall asked in a surprisingly quiet and gentle voice. Surely she meant the situation, or lack thereof, of Sara's parents. Sara quickly shook her head, causing the hair behind her ears to come loose and fall into her face. She quickly pushed it back again.

"No," she said softly. "Thank you, though. I appreciate your thought."

"Very well, then," said McGonagall, looking at her carefully. "You may go. I daresay that the Marauders and Co. are waiting for you outside my classroom door. Have a nice evening." Sara gave her a faint smile.

"Thank you very much, Professor McGonagall," she said, turning on her heels and walking composedly out of the room. She was not at all surprised to see Lily and Rena talking quietly outside of the classroom door. Both turned at the sound of her footsteps, smiling as she appeared in front of them.

"Hey," said Lily, coming forward with Rena at her side.

"Hey," Sara responded, smiling a little. "Thanks for waiting."

"No problem," answered Rena, smiling at her gently. "That's what friends are for."

_Friends_. They were friends. Sara smiled again, this one much more genuine, as she turned and began to walk back with Lily and Rena to the great marble staircase.

* * *

Okay, that's that! More should be coming within the week, but you never really know. Oh, yeah, and I also realized too late that McGonagall wouldn't supervise the vanishing charms (that, incidentally, would be taught by flitwick), but I didn't feel like rewriting anything at the moment.

MAKE SURE THAT YOU REVIEW!

Callista Rose


	9. Unsuspecting Victims

DISCLAIMER: Bla dee bla dee bla…if you really want to read it, click the back button on your browser and you'll see it at the top of the last chapter.

Okay, so this is the next chapter. Creepy things begin to happen with you-know-who's rise to power, and one of the gang will leave forever.

Want to read it yet? Here it is.

* * *

SIT VIS TECUM—Chapter 9

* * *

"Blimey, this is her?"

It was a few hours later, after all of the dinner platters and dishes had disappeared and the long wooden tables magically scrubbed. Sara sat in the Great Hall with James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Rena at the far end of the Gryffindor table. They were all crowded over a large book covered in blue cloth, whose cover, though it could not be seen at the present moment, bore the Beaumore Academy for Young Sorcerers crest imprinted in gold and stuck fast with magic.

The book was a photo album, a scrapbook of sorts, filled with magically moving photographs and other trinkets symbolic of Sara's adventures and misadventures with her friends back in the States. The page they were on, the first one, bore a large photograph of all who had contributed to making the book. It comprised of maybe a dozen and a half young witches and wizards, all smiling and waving at her. The album had been a gift that was mailed shortly before the letter came; some of Sara's friends from her old school had decided to put the album together as a late parting gift.

"So these are all the people who helped to make the scrapbook for you?" Rena asked curiously, eyeing a particularly muscular boy in the photograph who had light hair and hazel eyes with interest.

"Yes," she said as she felt a stab of pride. "And yes, Sirius, that's Ariana," she said to Sirius, who had been eagerly indicating a girl with curly chestnut-brown hair and warm brown eyes who was smiling and waving perhaps the most energetically of all in the photo.

"Excellent," he said, absentmindedly running a hand through his elegant black hair. "I am definitely writing and sending a photo to her." He turned back to Sara. "Are you sure you don't mind?" Sara grinned.

"No, Sirius, for the tenth time, go for it. I can't control you, but please be nice, she is my best friend, after all." James snorted as Sirius began to pull a clean sheet of parchment and a quill and ink from his bag and smoothed the parchment out on the table.

"This should be interesting,"Remus muttered so that they could all hear. Rena and Sara sniggered at him, and Lily seemed to be laughing silently.

"Okay, cool, Sara. Do you mind if we look at the rest of it?"Lily asked from across the table. The others looked up eagerly.

"Sure, I don't mind," she said earnestly, flipping the page. Pages and pages of photographs followed, some with Sara in them, and many more of others with whom she had been close. Every few pages, there would be an object, like a feather or a charred coin, which was fastened to the page with an interesting story behind it.

"So what happened then?" Sirius asked, having momentarily abandoned his letter to Ariana to listen to the story.

"He walked right into the trap," Sara said, grinning mischievously.

"He fell for it?" Rena asked, captivated by the details of the story. Even Remus had laid his book down to listen.

"Completely; and so the next thing that we knew, Marquez was shrieking about something (we knew, of course, exactly what it was), and ran screaming like a girl all the way to the school nurse's office, handsclamped ontohis –"

"You put an engorgement charm on his—" Lily began to ask, making sure she was getting the point.

"Gonads, testicles, balls, genitals—" Sirius listed, counting on his fingers, shaking madly with laughter.

"I think that Sirius has gotten the point," Sara said, glancing around at them. Remus and Lily looked slightly pained, but the rest of them were nearly howling with laughter. Sara,who rememberedthe incident as clearly as if it had happened the day before, grinned widely and laughed with them.

"Don't you think that might have been a little harsh?" Lily asked a moment later after the rest of them had quieted their laughter. Sara shrugged.

"Oh, come on, Lil," Rena said, throwing her arm over Lily's shoulders. "Sara and her friends were just teaching the boy a lesson about the hazards of bragging."

"Yeah," James laughed, "I doubt that any guy in that school will be flaunting his manliness too much in the next few years." Sirius suddenly stopped laughing, his face lit up.

"Hey," he said, grinning mischievously, "what if we—"

"No," said Lily flatly.

"But Malfoy—"

"Don't even think about it."

"I'm already thinking about it, and I'm liking the thoughts." He turned to Sara. "Could you explain how exactly you did that engorgement thing? I think it'd be—"

"Sirius, please," Lily started, beginning to look visibly upset. "We don't need to cause any more trouble."

"I think she's right, guys," Remus said, looking up again from his book. "I don't think that we need to be giving Malfoy or Snape any more reason to attack us."

"What reason do they have to begin with?" James asked, his voice suddenly exploding with anger. "Lily being Muggle-born? My being good at Quidditch? Sirius being a blood-traitor? Remus or Sara being intelligent?" Sara thought that she hadn't even known them long enough to be a reason to provoke attack from a couple of slimy Slytherins. She shot James a look that quite clearly read 'Don't bring me into this,' but he ignored her and continued his rant. "They're reasons, yes, but their validity equals about as much as a pile of doxy droppings." James ran a hand up and back through his hair, not because he wanted to look as if he had just been off of his broomstick (which, Lily had told her, was something that he often did), but out of blatant anger and frustration.

Sara was somewhat surprised by the sudden shower of rage James had emitted, but as she looked around at everyone else, she realized that she was the only one astonished by his temper. Remus had buried himself back in his book, but Lily and Rena looked at him with sympathetic eyes, as if knowing that there was nothing to do about his frustration except let him vent. Sirius reached over and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's okay, mate," he said, trying to sound comforting. "We know that the Slytherins are nothing but pathetic, slimy gits anyway."

"We just need to deal with it the best we can until we're out of here," Rena put in. Lily sat in her seat, staring somewhat guiltily into her lap, her eyes taking on a sort of glazed, watery look. She was carefully choosing not to look at any of them, as though the issue at hand were singularly her fault.

"I know, I know," said James in a much calmer voice (though he heaved a massive sigh). "But it kills me, you know? We are persecuted for simply living, and for circumstances we have no control over." Sara saw that he glanced in Remus' direction for a moment. Remus, as though he knew what James was doing, carefully met his eye and a glint of warning seemed to come into it, but it left so quickly as they broke eye contact that Sara might have imagined it; it was a look as if to say 'Not now.'

"Forget about it, James," Lily said, so quietly that Sara might not have heard it if she hadn't been sitting next to her at the time. James looked like he was about ready to go into another fit of rage, but he held his tongue and simply nodded, pretending to be extraordinarily interested in his fingernails.

The silence that followed was so heavy and tense that Sara was tempted to leave; however, she neither wanted to linger there nor be the first one to make a very obvious attempt to break a very pregnant moment. She sat there, smoothly resting her hands in her lap, waiting and watching, hoping, for somebody to do something.

To her relief, a very pregnant pause later, Rena valiantly cleared her throat softly and redirected her attention to the photo album spread out on the table, turning the page. Spread across both pages was an enlarged photograph that must have contained over one hundred people. They were all spread over a stone staircase leading up to a large brick building, younger ones on the lower stairs, and the older ones on the higher stairs. Glad to have a distraction, Sara leaned over the book and quickly spotted herself and her friends, smiling at the memories.

"What's this photo of?" Rena asked quietly, as if easing cautiously back into a louder volume. The others, seeming just as relieved at the distraction, leaned over the album.

"That," Sara said, "was my dormitory photo from last year; Andromeda house." Rena nodded, looking at the photo more closely.

"Wow, is that you?" Sirius asked, pointing to a longer-haired version of herself from the beginning of the previous school year at Beaumore. Sara nodded, smiling.

"Yes, and there's Ariana, and my friend Kaleigh," she said, indicating a witch with almond-shaped brown eyes and long, wavy white-blond hair, "as well as Austin," she indicated a young wizard with sandy hair and hazel eyes, "Maria," she pointed to a girl with olive skin, smooth, dark hair and glasses, "and Frankie," an Asian boy with jet-black hair and matching eyes.

"Who's the kid that's with you?" Lily asked, referring to a small girl no older than ten who had her arms wrapped over Sara's neck and was peeking over her shoulder, giggling and waving enthusiastically.

"Oh, that's my little sister, Olivia," Sara responded, looking fondly at the girl's long, curly hair and blue eyes. "I should really write to her, actually."

"You have a sister? I thought you said—"Rena began, looking confused.

"Sorry, she's not really my sister. In the fifth grade—year, I mean—each person is assigned a little sister or brother as a kind of bonding activity. That way, they get to meet the older students and get, you know, advice on classes or someone to tutor them when they need help. It's kind of a mentoring thing."

"Hey, that's cool…that would be fun if Hogwarts did that, don't you think?" Lily asked enthusiastically. Rena laughed, pointing at James and Sirius, who both had identical smirks on their faces.

"Maybe not for them, though," she said, "it looks like they're planning some sort of torture or something." The girls grinned at each other, continuing to flip through the pages of the book. The last of the photos was the only one that was taken after Sara's parents had died. It was of Sara and Ariana, arms thrown around each other in front of Sara's old house.

"That's kind of depressing," Remus said, frowning slightly. "Why were the two of you moping?" Sara bit her bottom lip, feeling their eyes on her. She stared at the photograph, suddenly missing her old house and the life she had in it more than ever.

"That," Sara began quietly, "was taken right before I was shipped off to England." Her eyes widened; another slip. "I-I mean, you know, when I came here." James and Lily exchanged looks; Lily's said plainly 'I told you something was up.' Sara shrugged.

"It's okay," Sirius said. "I understand if you didn't want to move. The States seems like a cool place to be." Sara gave them a small smile.

"Yeah, it was," she said. "I really do miss everyone there, but you all remind me of them a little—well, a lot actually. Mostly," she added, turning toward James and Sirius, "the same love of playing pranks on people." The two guys cracked a huge grin.

"Speaking of pranks," James said quietly, glancing around at everyone. "I reckon it's time to start planning our Halloween bash." He grinned at Sirius, Rena, and Remus. Lily, it seemed, still seemed to be avoiding his eyes, but the expression on her face was one of obvious displeasure. At hearing these words from James, Remus' face, too, fell as he sadly laid down his book.

"What's up Moony? Why so blue? The Halloween prank is always amazing," Sirius said, confused. Remus looked more sullen than ever.

"I know, that's the problem," he said miserably. "It's the full moon on Halloween this year." Sara was slightly puzzled.

"So, why is that bad?" she asked. James' eyes widened with the same look as when she had run into him at King's Cross weeks ago, and the expression on Sirius' face wasn't much different. Rena was staring at her brother, horrified, who in turn picked up his book and hid his face behind it. Lily, too, looked as if she had just realized that something was out of place.

"I have to visit my mother," Remus replied quickly, his forehead (the bit that Sara could see, anyway) reddened over the book (which was upside-down). "She's ill." Next to her, Rena put her elbow on the table and rested her forehead in her hand, seeming to realize something that her twin did not.

"What about Rena?" Sara asked, growing more confused by the second.

"I go on the new moon," Rena said, not facing Sara.

"But the new moon was last week, and you were—"

"Sara," Lily said cautiously. "I don't think that we should talk about this—"

"I'm only curious and, quite frankly, extremely confused," Sara said, slightly angered. "None of it makes sense."

"Yes, it does," said Remus quietly. Sara nodded, giving up. She wasn't going to pry—she didn't want to lose some of the best friends that she had at Hogwarts.

The following day, a large flyer had been put up on the Ravenclaw message board. Quidditch tryouts were scheduled for the following Friday evening on the quidditch pitch on the lawn. This news caused a great buzz of excitement from many of the students, but equally as many were unfazed by this news.

"I don't know what's so exciting about quidditch, anyway," Lisa Finelli said over a large plate of oatmeal in the Great Hall for breakfast. A great groan went up from all of the Ravenclaw 5th-years who were sitting around her at breakfast. Noah Baker nudged Sara's right shoulder, momentarily ignoring his own breakfast.

"She makes this speech at least twice every year," he said, muttering low under his breath. "Once at the start of the season, and once before the final match at the end of the season. We all know it nearly by heart by now." Sara raised her eyebrows and continued to resolutely stir sugar into her tea.

"Oh, really, Lisa, do we really need to hear this speech _again_?" Alaina asked, throwing up her arms in a gesture of dramatic exasperation.

"Whatever you say," Lisa replied, sniffing indignantly and letting her spoon fall back into the dish of oatmeal. "But just because—"

"You don't think that people chasing balls on broomsticks is a sport—" Luke chimed in.

"Doesn't mean that we can't have our fun with it." Serenica finished monotonously, rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. "Yeah, yeah, we know, we know."

"Lisa's 'quidditch is stupid' speech?" Tabitha Lou asked, swinging her legs over an empty spot on the bench and taking a seat at the long Ravenclaw table. "I'm really _so_ sorry to have missed it."

"Do any of you play on the team?" Sara asked, looking around.

"I'm the Keeper on the house team," Christian Walker said, smiling with pride. "And Basti is a Chaser on the team. Of course, we don't know if we will be this year, because tryouts haven't happened yet, so we'll see where we end up."

"What about you, Sara?" Basti asked, interested. "Did you play quidditch at your old school?" Sara shrugged.

"I was a Chaser on my house team last year," she said, "And the year before that I did commentary on the games with my big sister." They nodded in understanding—Sara had told them previously about that particular program at Beaumore.

"You should try out," Christian said, holding a strip of bacon halfway to his mouth. "The Ravenclaw team lost a Chaser and a Beater last year when Annie McNulty and Forbes Brewer graduated."

"I don't know," she said tentatively. "My broom's not that great, and I have other stuff to do, anyways…"

"Like what? Retake notes from classes you've had already?" Basti said, sounding frustrated. "It's not like you've got any actual studying to do."

"That's true, Sara. You really should go out for the team."

"It'd be a great way to get to know more people."

"Plus it's a wicked lot of fun!"

"Tryouts," Christian began, "Start at seven on Friday afternoon. Be there." Sara shook her head and rolled her eyes, but she wondered whether they were all right; maybe a little bit of quidditch would do her some good. At least, it would give her something to focus on…

The next morning, Sara woke early and wandered off to Professor Dumbledore's office for her supplemental education lesson for the week. She had been scouring the books that he had given her to look at for lesson suggestions and marked the pages in which she was interested. She had just made it through the winding passageways and tapestries to arrive at the feet of the gargoyles when the wall-door sprang open and the headmaster himself, in midnight-blue robes adorned with tiny silver sparkles and his half-moon spectacles flashing in the morning light, appeared in the corridor. He gave Sara a smile, beckoning her up the twisting staircase and into his office, where she sat presently in the chair facing his desk.

"So, Miss O'Hanlon," Dumbledore said, folding his hands and looking at her through twinkling eyes. "Have you given any more thought to what you would like to study with me? Mind, I wouldn't dream of knowing everything, but I daresay I can teach you to the best of my ability."

"Yes, Professor," Sara replied, drawing an enormous book from her bag and setting it carefully on her lap. "I've marked some of the pages—magically, of course—and there are a few subjects that I found particularly interesting."

"Well, as long as they are reasonable, I have no problem teaching you what I can," he answered. "What have you been thinking of?" Sara flipped open the book to the first marked pages.

"The first thing, the thing that I am most interested it," she said, carefully avoiding Dumbledore's eyes, "is Legilimency, and, of course, Occlumency." Looking up, she saw that Dumbledore was looking at her strangely, as if he did not quite know what to make of her.

"Sara," he began quietly after a moment, still looking into her eyes with his own piercing blue ones. Sara was slightly taken aback by his addressing her by her first name. "I don't know if I should teach you that. I daresay that you are more than capable of learning legilimency on your own, and occlumency isn't much more difficult than that. I do, however, have an obligation to protect my students' best interests, and I believe that one's thoughts and memories ought to remain one's own, do you not agree?" She sat quietly in her seat, now feeling a bit guilty.

"I agree," she said quietly and guiltily. "And I understand why. I apologize."

"Now, there's no need to apologize," Dumbledore said kindly, smiling a little. "Just choose something else that you would like to learn. Are there any charms or other spells that you would like to learn about?"

"Well, I always did want to be a Healer. Is there any chance of learning medicinal spells or draughts?" At this, the headmaster smiled and rose to his vast wall of books, stacked at least two deep. After considering them for a moment, he slid one from the shelf, handing it to Sara.

"This, I can help you with," he said, turning back to sit at his own desk, robes swishing behind him. "Take this book. It is rather worn and old, but in it you will find simple spells to cure minor ailments. Unfortunately, all I can do here is help you with the wand movements and incantations as there are no ailments to cure. However, I promise that the next injury I sustain, I will save for you to heal." Sara smiled, bidding her thanks and goodbye to the headmaster and turning to leave. She had planned to meet with the Gryffindor gang that morning for breakfast, so she hadn't eaten anything earlier. She arrived in the Hall to find that Lily and Remus had saved a seat for her between the two of them. She gratefully slipped into the seat and poured herself a cup of tea.

"Morning, Sara," James said pleasantly before diving into a stack of pancakes.

"Good morning," she greeted them, smiling. "What's new?"

"Nothing, really," Lily said, pouring a glass of pumpkin juice. "How was your lesson with Dumbledore?" Sara began to explain to them what had happened, with the legilimency and occlumency and Dumbledore's reaction.

"—but he wouldn't allow me to learn how to actually do the spells," she finished, looking around at them. James and Sirius exchanged looks; they seemed mildly disappointed.

"Too bad, too," James said, "you could have used them on Snape and Malfoy...it would have helped with the pranks anyway."

"But Dumbledore did have a point," Lily said pointedly, staring the two of them down. "It is a major invasion of privacy, going into someone's mind."

"Oh, come on, Lils," Sirius said. "It's mostly just to find out whether someone is lying or not. And, of course, to close your mind when other people are trying to get into it."

"But anyway, he did let me borrow one of his books to learn a few things for how to cure minor injuries and ailments," Sara finished, buttering a piece of toast and taking a bite.

"Excellent," Sirius said. "If you manage that, we won't have to go to Madam Pomfrey so much, and she won't be so suspicious that we are making trouble…" his voice carried away dreamily. They all laughed. A sudden rushing of owls told them that the morning's mail was here. The swooping owls circled them and dropped letters into their owners' laps. A battered-looking brown owl delivered a letter to Arabella, who was always so quiet that she hardly realized she was there. Arabella shrugged, looking mildly surprised that she'd gotten any mail at all, and without opening the envelope she turned back to her bacon and toast.

Owls continued to deliver their letters and parcels, and Sirius was so started when an owl gave him a pink envelope that he choked on his tea and accidentally spit some at the owl who had delivered the letter, who ruffled his feathers and took off indignantly. Sirius tore the letter open, pulled out a card the size of a postcard, and smiled.

"What is it?" James asked, peering at the card over Sirius' shoulder.

"My cousin Andromeda had her baby last night. _Andromeda and Ted Tonks are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Nymphadora Calliope Tonks, at 11:34 pm on September 16. Nymphadora weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce at birth and continues to thrive,_" Sirius read aloud from the card. "There's a picture, too," he turned the card around to reveal a moving photograph of a baby wrapped in a pink blanket, sleeping contentedly in a crib. "But blimey, Andromeda's my favorite cousin, but she's got to be a nutter to name a kid Nymphadora—" his voice drained off and he looked about wildly.

Nobody seemed to have been listening to Sirius. Every person's attention turned to Arabella, at the end of the group, who had finally opened the letter that she had been sent. She now stared blankly at it, too shocked to speak, her eyes glazed over with tears. She was visibly shaking; she could hardly hold her hand steady enough to keep the letter in it.

"Bella!" Rena started, alarmed. "What's the matter? What's happened?" Arabella seemed unable to speak. She simply shook her head as a tear made its way slowly down her cheek. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. She blinked and two more tears streamed down her face. The letter fell from her hands as she crumpled onto the table, hiding her face in her arms, still shaking violently. Sara suspected that she had burst into uncontrollable tears.

Rena, who had been sitting beside her, cautiously picked up the letter and read it so fast that her eyes seemed unmoving. Her mouth dropped open as she silently, wordlessly, passed the paper to a shocked Lily.

Arabella's father, it turned out, had been violently killed in the fire of a Death Eater attack that happened on the muggle street where he worked. Arabella's mother (whose name was also Arabella) had written to tell her this, and to say that she was going to be personally removing her from Hogwarts as soon as possible. It seemed that Arabella too stunned at the death of her father that she could not even protest leaving Hogwarts.

The rest of the morning was so tense and subdued for them that Sara was mildly glad to have been put in different classes than them. A depressed Lily told her in the corridor later that afternoon that Arabella would be leaving at seven the next morning to go back to the Muggle world forever. She had been excused from classes that day with the greatest sympathies from the professors so that she could collect her things and say her good-byes. She hadn't known her long, but she knew that Arabella, no matter how shy or quiet or magically-challenged she might be (her mother was a Squib, her father a muggle), she played an integral part in the team of Gryffindors that Sara had grown to like and trust.

Sara gave a tearing Lily a supportive hug and told her that she would be in the entrance hall the next day to say good-bye. She looked after Lily's retreating back, feeling that she, too, had suffered a terrible loss.

That afternoon after she had finished her homework for Charms, History of Magic and Potions, Sara strolled down to the library to look for a book. Though Sara had pored over the healing book that Dumbledore had given her, she was still way more interested in Legilimency and Occlumency. Even if she couldn't learn to practice it, she thought, at least the theory had to be interesting. After searching the hundreds of shelves for nearly an hour, she came across what she was looking for: it was a moderate-sized leather-bound book entitled _Magical Mind Manipulation_ by Axonan Dendrite. She tugged at it, pulling it off of the shelf and flipping it open. Running her finger down the list that was the index of the book, she hastily turned to the page.

There it was—a beautifully drawn moving illustration and detailed descriptions on how to perform the legilimency spell, as well as how to close one's mind through occlumency. Sara smiled to herself and snapped the book shut, moving back through the tangled maze of bookshelves to the front desk, where Madam Pince, the librarian, was flipping through a very old and tattered book, restoring the pages with prods and pokes from her wand. She peered up at Sara through her eagle eyes, which narrowed when she approached the desk.

"Not causing trouble, are you, Miss O'Hanlon?" she asked, setting her own book aside and fingering her wand, eyes on the book in Sara's hands.

"Of course not, Madam Pince," Sara said earnestly, placing the book on the desk. The librarian pursed her lips in thought as she flipped through the book. Sara tried to look as innocent as she could and began adjusting the straps of her bag on her shoulders. Finally, Madam Pince jabbed her wand at the book, handing it back to Sara.

"Just make sure you return that in a month's time," she said. Sara nodded, smiling, and tucked the book carefully into her bag, turning to walk out. Unfortunately, she wasn't paying a lot of attention to exactly where she was going and who was in her path, because a moment later she smacked into something quite solid.

"Ouch! Hey, watch where you're going, O'Hanlon!" it said. Sara suppressed the urge to laugh.

"Sorry, Sirius," she said. "My fault—are you okay?" Sirius rubbed his head (which he had knocked into a bookshelf after Sara smacked into him) and winced.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, now squinting at the ground. Sara saw a book lying open on the floor by her feet, so she bent down to pick it up. She closed it; the cover read _Animagi: an Understanding and Guide to Transformation_. She handed it back to Sirius, who looked mildly panicked, but he seemed to regain his composure almost immediately.

"Thanks, I was just coming back to return this," he said, a sudden smirk crossing his face. "We don't need it anymore."

"'We?'" Sara reiterated, slightly puzzled. "Have you suddenly become two people, then?"

"That's funny. I meant me and the guys, the Marauders. We checked it out at the beginning of, like, our third year. I bet that Pince'll have a fit over it. Peter thought he had lost it after we learned about animagi in the third year."

"Oh," she said. Then, feeling the need to say something to him, she blurted, "I heard about Arabella. I'm really, really sorry about what happened."

"Yeah," Sirius breathed after a moment, scuffing the toe of his trainer on the floor. "I've known her for over four years, and to be honest, she was one of the last people that I would have expected to be affected by Death Eaters, but I guess that you can never tell, not with the rate of their activity growing."

"So has it been like this for a while, with people dying and such?" Sara asked, alarmed.

"No," Sirius said, speaking in a low, dark voice. "But I get the feeling that this will only get worse. So far, I think that Ara's the only one here to lose a loved one. It's a pity that she has to leave." Sara didn't quite know what to say to this, so she settled for a shrug of the shoulders.

"I should probably get going," she said. "I'll see you around, I'm sure."

"Yeah, see ya, O'Hanlon," Sirius called, smiling at her over his shoulder as he, as well, turned on his heel to find Madam Pince's desk.

* * *

Okay! That's the 9th chapter. Coming in the next chapter…

Remus falls ill, Dumbledore makes an announcement that changes the Christmas holidays for them all, Snape and Malfoy make a dangerous discovery.

Please review! I don't think that I'll post the next chapter until I get at least 5 reviews for this one


	10. Point of Inflection

DISCLAIMER: I still don't own anyone that you recognize from JKR's books. Period.

Chapter 10 is here at last! In this chapter…

Remus falls ill, but what's Sara got to do with it? Dumbledore makes an announcement that will change everyone's Christmas holidays, as well as several relationships among students.

Ready for it? Here it is…

* * *

SIT VIS TECUM—Chapter 10

* * *

The next morning was a miserable one; the cold, drizzling rain beating against the castle windows only amplified the mood. Sara awoke at 6:20 the next morning, dressed quietly, made her bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her hair and teeth so that she could make her way out of the statue-guarded tunnel out of Ravenclaw tower in plenty of time to say goodbye to Arabella Figg (who, by the way, is the daughter of the Arabella Figg that we meet in JKR's books). Pulling her hair up into a ponytail out of her face, she slipped out of Ravenclaw tower and found her way, with no problem at all, into the entrance hall of the castle.

Glancing at the watch on her wrist, she saw that it was only 6:30 and there was no sign of activity in or near the atrium where she stood. She sat with uncertainty on a step of the great staircase, resting her head in her hands. Though she had only known Arabella for a couple of weeks, she understood the girl's pain much more than anyone else knew, having lost both of her own parents in the previous summer. She also understood the feeling of being pulled away from friends who had known you for five years, and of leaving a school that you had attended for a good part of your life.

After waiting for ten more minutes, Sara decided to just go up to Gryffindor tower and find them, seeing as how everyone would probably wait until the last minute to come downstairs and watch their friend leave. She made her way quietly and cautiously through the corridors until she came out in front of a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress. This, she knew, was the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, she had found out from Lily. The lady woke from her doze with a start, and realized quickly who it was standing in front of her.

"You again!" she jumped up, looking startled. "This isn't your House, why do you keep coming here?" Sara rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" she said dryly. "I don't even know the password."

"Damn right, you don't, and you shouldn't," said the Fat Lady with some contentment. Sara regained her composure, looking the portrait straight in the face.

"Do you think that you could go into the common room and tell Lily Thompson that I'm here?" she asked politely. The portrait lady eyed her, again with suspicion. She seemed to be considering this.

"Oh, fine, fine," she said, somewhat irritably. "I'll go and check, but mind you, it's early, she might not be awake yet." The lady disappeared through the side of her portrait, and the scene that she had previously occupied was left momentarily vacant. After a minute, she reentered the portrait gracefully, but in a huff. She patted her hair in a dignified manner and turned her eyes back on Sara.

"She's coming out now," the lady said. "She didn't seem at all surprised that you were here." She said this last bit in a manner which indicated to Sara that Lily should have been alarmed at this.

"Thank you very much, Ma'am," Sara said, trying to smile sweetly at her without laughing. At that moment, however, Lily rushed out of the portrait hole, thick dark-red hair swept back in a messy bun and wearing a blue dressing gown over her pajamas. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and the area around them looked pink and puffy, as if she had been crying (which, she reminded herself, she probably had). She smiled widely at  
Sara, beckoning her into the portrait hole.

"Hi, Sara, thanks a lot for coming," she said. "She'll be glad that you came for this." If Sara was planning on looking for the others, she didn't have to go far. As it was so early in the morning, the common room was deserted except for a small crowd of very somber and depressed-looking people huddled together in chairs by the fire. As Lily made her way back over to them, they turned their heads in their direction.

It appeared that Sara and Arabella were the only ones who were actually dressed, everyone else sported slippers, dressing gowns and unkempt hair, not to mention bleary eyes. Though only Arabella, Rena and Lily appeared to have been crying, the guys, usually cheerful, were looking especially downtrodden and depressed. It reminded Sara a lot of the way that she and her friends had been on the morning of her departure to England.

"Morning, Arabella," Sara said quietly, looking into the girl's teary, empty-looking eyes. Then, without warning, Arabella threw her arms around Sara's neck and broke down, sobbing.

"She's been like this since yesterday," Rena said in a low voice to a very shocked Sara, who awkwardly hugged Arabella back. She suddenly pulled away, wiping her eyes with a tissue that was crumpled in her hand.

"I'm s-sorry," she sobbed. "I know that I d-don't know you that well, b-but I feel like, s-somehow, you un-un-understand." She continued to sob quietly, while everyone else, though still full of pity for their friend, turned to Sara in perplexion.

"Yes," she said quietly, "more than you know." Arabella nodded and fell into a hug with Remus, who stroked her hair as if he was comforting a little sister. Lily looked at Sara with mild pity before wiping her own eyes again and checking the large clock in the common room which loomed above them.

"It's 6:40, we've only got twenty minutes," she said with alarm. "We'd better go change." They all nodded at her, going up the stairs to their respective dormitories, leaving Sara alone for the first time in the Gryffindor common room. In a matter of minutes, they were all back in the room again, and James was levitating Arabella's trunk ahead of him as she took one last, tearful look around the common room. One by one, they stepped out of the portrait hole. As the Fat Lady's portrait swung shut behind them, the Fat Lady waved at Arabella.

"Have a pleasant journey, dear," she said kindly. Arabella gave her a tiny smile, silent tears running down her cheeks.

By the time they reached the entrance hall, she seemed so grief-stricken that she had stopped crying altogether, looking at them all with crestfallen eyes. As they all fell into a group hug, Sara began to feel awkward again, as if she was intruding upon a very private moment. She hung back for a moment, and the seven of them broke apart; even Remus was dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief. Someone pulled out a camera, wanting to capture a last moment together for them.

"I'll take it," Sara said, "So that you can all be in it." James looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Duh, O'Hanlon," he said, rolling his eyes teasingly. "We are in the _magical _world—nobody needs to actually hold the camera."

"Besides," Arabella said quietly, "I want you to be in the picture, too." She gave Sara a tiny smile.

"Okay," she said, stepping over to join them on the steps of the great, sweeping staircase. James hit a button on the camera, and Sara watched as it fluttered out of his hands and hovered fifteen feet in front of them. Everyone gave the biggest smile that they could manage while the camera emitted several clicking noises and flashes. When it had finished, it fell to the ground it ad hovered over.

"Thanks, guys," Arabella said, seeming to have momentarily forgotten about crying in light of wanting her last moments with her friends to be happy ones. At that moment, Dumbledore appeared in sweeping robes, his eyes slightly dimmer than they had been when she last saw him.

"Miss Figg," he said calmly, "Your carriage is waiting outside. I will accompany you to the Hogsmeade station to ensure that you catch the correct train back to London. You may take a few minutes to say good-bye to your friends before your departure." He silently leaned against the wall, adjusting his half-moon glasses on his long, crooked nose.

"Well," Arabella said, fighting tears again. "I guess I have to go."

"Hey, don't worry, it's not really good-bye."

"I know that we'll see you again."

"Yeah, we'll see you at Christmas and the summer holidays."

"And we'll all write to you, you know that."

"Yeah, I guess," Arabella said, looking slightly better about these words of comfort. "I'm sure that I'll have time to, I can't see what else I'll be doing." She gave them a small, sad smile before drawing her wand for what would probably be the last time in a long time, muttered _wingardium leviosa_, and her trunk flew into the air in front of her.

She gave everyone in turn a last hug; the marauders and company bombarded her with one last group hug before she gave them one last smile, turned, her long, black hair swinging behind her, and walked with her head held high down the walk to where the carriage was waiting at the gates to the school. Dumbledore followed behind her. Just like that, she had gone, and the great oak doors shut behind her.

Sara blinked in slight disbelief, glancing around at the others. Lily was wrapped in James' arms, Sirius had his hands jammed into his pockets, Peter was staring at the floor, and Rena had her head on her brother's shoulder. Soundlessly, she left them to their moment, slipping silently up the great, sweeping marble staircase and back up to Ravenclaw tower.

The days seemed to slip by quickly despite the void that Arabella's absence left in the school. It surprised Sara, however, that nobody—except for those who had been close acquaintances—seemed to miss her much at all; some truly didn't notice her disappearance until it was mentioned to them by a friend. This had been the case with the fifth-year Ravenclaws, who only noticed that Arabella had left when Sara mentioned it three days later.

The days at Hogwarts seemed to pass with an ease that she never could have imagined months ago. Sara understood where and when her classes were, and from James and the other Marauders she found some nifty tapestry-hidden passageways that would allow her to bypass trick staircases and, most useful, Peeves the Poltergeist, who had taken a new glee in tormenting 'the new girl.' She spent more and more time with the Marauders and company, much to the disappointment of her Ravenclaw friends, but Sara didn't mind as she still spent most of her time with them. The only places that she could really sit with the Gryffindors were the courtyards, the library, and the Great Hall between meals, and as it was much too chilly to wander about the grounds and the library didn't allow talking, it was seldom that she spent time with her new friends.

Halloween came quickly, and before she knew it, Sara was going into Hogsmeade for the first time. She had had to write home the week before, as her permission slip hadn't been signed, but it was well worth it as she explored Zonko's, Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks for hot mugs of butterbeer on the cold, windy day. She returned from the journey chattering with Paige and Noah and laden with sweets and dungbombs, entering the castle to find James, Sirius, Rena, Lily and Peter in the entrance hall. Remus hadn't been seen for the last two days; he told them that he was visiting his mother, and that he would be back after Halloween.

"You guys didn't go to Hogsmeade?" she asked breathlessly, breaking apart from the crowd to talk to them. They looked at one another mischievously.

"We did," Sirius said, amused, "we just have more efficient ways to get there than with the school group."

"It's more fun, too," Peter said. Sara nodded slowly. Someone called to her from the mass of people still reentering the castle.

"I've got to go," she said. "See you at the feast!" They didn't get a chance to answer before she was swept back into the crowd up to Ravenclaw tower.

The Hogwarts Halloween feast was like no other she had ever seen. Hundreds of live bats and bewitched Jack-o-lanterns floated above the house tables, which were so packed with delicious-looking food and sweets she could hardly find her own golden plate and goblet. She had promised Lisa that she would sit with them for the Halloween feast, so she took a seat between her and Serenica Boggsworth.

"So, why were you so keen on me sitting with you guys?" she asked them, biting into a shiny red apple. They gave each other looks, and it was Lisa who finally explained.

"Every year, the marauders play some huge Halloween prank."

"It is usually directed at the Slytherins," said Christian with a grin, "but the point is that they usually get into a lot of trouble for it."

"Not that they mind," Lisa said, as if trouble was some sentence worse than death.

"But we just wanted to make sure that you didn't take a hit for something you didn't do," Paige said pointedly, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.

"Oh," Sara said.

"Actually," Alaina said, twirling a lock of her hair absentmindedly, "I don't see them over there at all," she finished, gesturing toward the Gryffindor table. Sure enough, when Sara turned in her seat, she saw that only Lily and Rena sat in the section of the table usually occupied by the marauders. This would have seemed normal to her—after all, it probably had something to do with the prank—if not for the fact that they both looked mildly worried and were whispering quietly together rather than chatting merrily with the students surrounding them. She shrugged when the Ravenclaws looked at her as if for an explanation of some sort.

"I dunno," she said, now pulling a cupcake onto her plate and peeling off the wrapper. "Maybe since Remus is away they don't feel up to a prank." Lisa looked skeptical.

"Maybe," she shrugged, looking unconvinved. They ate in silence for about half a minute until the guys struck up a loud conversation about Hogsmeade and quidditch, which carried them successfully through the rest of the meal. A sudden clinking of metal on glass caused them all to redirect their attention to the High Table where the teachers sat. They saw that Dumbledore had risen to his feet and was clinking his spoon against his glass, preparing to make an announcement. The buzz of conversation quieted almost immediately.

"Welcome, welcome," he said heartily. "I am glad that you all are enjoying our phenomenal Halloween feast. I hope that you won't terribly mind my interrupting your culinary pursuits for a quick, albeit hopefully pleasing, announcement." Sara looked at Paige and Noah, who sat across the table, both with looks of puzzlement on their faces; she could tell that Professor Dumbledore didn't make announcements in the middle of the year often.

"This year at Hogwarts, it has been decided that we will host a Winter Formal Ball." At these words, several people smiled brilliantly; a few clapped and wolf-whistled at him. "The ball will take place on New Year's Eve at 7:00 in the evening and will be open to students in the third year and above. Younger students are welcome to attend if invited by an older student." There was a pause, though a few of the first- and second-year students had let out audible groans. "That is all! Now, all of you may return to the befuddlement of our indulgent Halloween feast!"

It was only a matter of seconds before an excited buzz of chatter began to fill the Great Hall; nearly every student seemed to be making plans and talking longingly about the ball that would be held on the eve of the new year. Of course, the table at which Sara sat was no different.

"So that's what the dress robes were for, then?"

"Oh, so you don't usually need them for school?" Sara asked curiously, turning toward Lisa, who shook her head.

"No, we don't," she replied. Her eyes suddenly widened. "You did bring some, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course, they were on the supply list that I got before the year started, I just wasn't sure what they were for exactly," she told them, smiling. Talk of the ball carried them through the rest of the feast, and, Sara guessed, through much of the following months. As the feast ended, however, she had other things on her mind. As quickly as she could, the fought her way through the students exiting in droves from the Hall to catch up with Lily and Rena. She finally caught up with them halfway up to Gryffindor Tower, skidding to a halt and nearly out of breath. She called to them, and they turned to speak to her, stepping to one side of the crowd so as to avoid being mauled over by the masses.

"What's up, Sara?" Lily asked in what she clearly thought was a happy-go-lucky sort of voice. Being close to them, she could tell something was wrong; there was an oddly dark look to both of their faces, a combination of fear and fatigue. Indeed, Rena looked so shaken that she didn't want to speak, which was a first for her.

"What's wrong with you two? Where are the guys?" Lily's eyes darted toward Rena, then toward the wall, as if trying to will a door to appear and give and escape.

"They're…um…they're not here at the moment."

"What do you mean, 'not here?'" Both girls shrugged, strange, indecipherable looks upon their faces. Sara blew a stray hair out of her face in frustration; there was nothing, however, that she could do to comfort them if she didn't know what was going on. "Okay, look," she said, the expression on her face softening, "I'm not going to try to get this out of you anymore, alright? You can tell me when you are ready to, or, you know, I can figure it out," she mused to herself. "But that's not the point. The point is, I'm not going to bug you about it anymore, okay?"

"Thanks," Rena said in a small, albeit grateful, voice. She gave Sara a small smile. "That means a lot to me." Lily nodded in agreement. They stood in an awkward silence for a moment before bidding each other goodnight, and Sara, feeling rather outcast and slightly worried about the four marauders, trod the path back to her dormitory.

The next morning, James, Sirius and Peter were back for breakfast in the Great Hall and, despite looking exhausted, were completely their normal selves. The day after that, Remus returned to the school, and though he looked rather pale and peaky he seemed as normal as ever, though he for some reason threw an occasional glance at Sara as if she was on the verge of discovering something she shouldn't know.

True to her word, Arabella continued to write lengthy novels of letters from home; she wrote to at least one of them every day, filling them in on what she was up to without them. It turned out that her mother had enrolled Arabella in the local Muggle secondary school, which was sure to be a tough transition when she started the next quarter.

"Muggle school?" Sirius asked, wearing expressions of mixed horror and revulsion. "What for?"

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Lily said, picking at her breakfast. "If she leaves the magical world, she might as well know how to survive in the Muggle one. It's very practical."

"Yeah, but _Muggle school?_"

"It's not that bad," Sara interjected. She had been sitting with them for about every other meal at the school; she could tell that the Ravenclaws were slightly irked about this (Basti had muttered something about fraternizing with the wrong people, and in response Sara had acted deaf to that comment).

"How do you know?"

"I'm muggle-born, remember? I grew up in muggle schools, and my parents had me in summer school when Beaumore let out so that I would have more opportunities open to me if I decided I didn't want to continue with it." She rolled her eyes.

"How did you have time to do that with summer homework?" Remus asked curiously.

"Didn't have any," she said simply.

"Oh, that's cool."

"So, do you think that you're going to continue that here in England?" Rena asked, spearing a bit of fried egg with her fork. Sara shrugged.

"I dunno, probably not. I'll ask my grandparents if they know any good schools, though. We'll see."

"Why your grandparents?"

"They know the country better than I do," she said honestly. Lily and Rena exchanged looks, but seemed to silently decide not to press the matter further.

"So," James began eagerly, "I forgot to ask you how your quidditch trials went."

"James, that was like a month ago!" Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, well, the season hasn't started yet, it hasn't been fully on my mind."

"That's a first," Lily muttered.

"So anyway," James said, redirecting his eyes to Sara. "What happened?" Sara shrugged, taking a sip of her tea.

"I kind of got on the team," she said, smiling a little.

"How do you 'kind of' get on a quidditch team?"

"I am the alternate chaser, so that if one gets ill or stuck in detention (which, by the sound of it, has happened before), I play in their place. So I still get to train with the team and stuff, but it's not like a for-sure thing that I'll play."

"Cool! So there's a chance that I could play against you!" James said, his expression halfway between a smirk and a grin.

"Yep, though if you're the seeker I probably won't see too much of –" her voice was drowned out by the first bell; they would be late to lessons if they didn't hurry. Bidding good-bye, Sara turned out toward the greenhouses while the others headed up the great marble staircase, starting to take strides toward the great oak doors into the castle when she heard someone cry out behind her.

"Sara, wait, I think your necklace fell off." She turned on her heel. Sure enough, on the ground several feet behind her was a necklace that had once been her mothers, the silver chain coiled in a small heap on the ground. He bent to pick it up for her, leaving the rest of his friends to go up to class without him.

"Thanks a—" her voice trailed off. Suddenly, as if she was watching some horrible movie unfold its plot, every puzzle piece seemed to nestle together in her mind, and she understood. She understood what it all meant—the lunar charts, James' mention of a "furry little problem," illness at the full moon, the phony excuses, the nickname Moony—and it all made sense to her. But something else, something terrible, she knew, was about to happen if she was right…she suddenly felt her stomach drop to her feet as she sensed a horrible, undeniable foreboding…

"REMUS, NO!" she shouted, darting forward, schoolbooks forgotten—

But she was too late, she watched his fingers graze the chain before she could knock it out of his hand, and immediately, horribly, her suspicions were confirmed. The empty halls echoed eerily when he moaned in pain as if his skin was on fire.

"Oh, no," she whimpered, beginning to panic and dancing uncertainly on the spot. "You need to get to the hospital wing, come on—" She quickly bent down to scoop up the necklace and tuck it hastily into the pocket of her robes. Remus seemed not to hear her, but she could see that the part of his finger that had contacted the chain of the necklace had already erupted into tiny, bloody blisters. Without thinking, she grabbed his other hand and with all of her weight began to pull Remus to the hospital wing. Remus was crying out as if his blood was boiling and seemed oblivious to who and where he was. Tears of fear glistened on both of their faces as they burst through the door of the hospital wing, Sara struggling under Remus' weight; he seemed to have been rendered unable to move on his own. Luckily, the nurse saw them almost at once.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked urgently, practically pushing Remus into the nearest bed. Sara seemed unable to speak as she pulled her necklace from her pocket and showed it to her. Madam Pomfrey looked as if she had been struck across the face. She began to struggle; Remus had begun to seize, thrashing about in the bed. "Go get the headmaster, quickly," she ordered Sara. "GO, RUN!"

She didn't need to be told twice; she turned on her heel and sped down the stone staircase out of the hospital wing, her hair flying behind her. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, heart pounding in her ears, trying not to think of what might become of her friend…reaching the stone gargoyles, she skidded to a halt and shouted "Fizzing Whizbee." The gargoyles sprang aside and she ran desperately up the staircase, hardly knocking before she burst into Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Sir," she said breathlessly, crying with fright. "You have to come…it's Remus…he's ill…Madame Pomfrey…" she needn't have said more. In seconds he was off his feet and nearly running toward the door. He breezed past Sara, who closed his office door hastily and ran to follow him.

"What's happened?" he asked in an uncharacteristically sharp voice.

"Silver…his fingers." She knew that she understood, and he picked up the pace. They ran back up to the hospital wing. A curtain was now up around Remus' bed (Dumbledore dashed behind it immediately), blocking him from view, but he seemed silent. Somehow, Sara thought, this was more terrifying than ever. She caught snatches of the whispers of Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore from behind the curtain.

"Having seizures…"

"Not enough potion…"

"Trying to control it…"

"Transfer to St. Mungos…"

Suddenly, Dumbledore came out from behind the curtain, looking intensely at Sara. He had a strange look of mixed fear, concern and urgency that filled even the wrinkles on his face.

"Miss O'Hanlon," he said urgently. "I need you to tell me, quickly, exactly what happened to Mr. Lupin before he fell ill."

"My necklace fell on the floor, he started to pick it up, and I knocked it back out of his hand, but by then it was too late," she said, starting to feel a burning in her throat, but she knew that she had to continue. "His skin started to erupt in tiny raised blisters where the necklace touched him, and he started moaning, I kind of dragged him up here, and then Madam Pomfrey took over." Dumbledore looked as if he was contemplating her for a minute before nodding over his half-moon spectacles.

"Very well," he said resolutely. "Well, Miss O'Hanlon, we will be doing everything we can to help him, but for now, I'd like you to go on to Herbology class, but before you do, please kindly fetch Miss Lupin out of Charms class." With his wand he conjured two pieces of parchment, a quill and ink out of thin air. A moment later, he gave them to Sara. "One of these is for Professor Flitwick, and the other is for Professor Sprout. Do try not to miss too much more of your lesson."

With that, Sara understood herself to be excused. She looked at him, puzzled and upset, before he turned and, with a swishing of his robes disappeared behind the curtain again. Sara cast one more worried, helpless glance at Remus' silhouetted bed before turning to find Rena. She knew that it would be more difficult to face her and the rest of the Gryffindors than anything. It was all her fault that Remus was ill…he could die. The image of the way he was groaning and shaking, skin blistering before her eyes…she could have prevented it, if only she had been a little faster…

A tear rolled down her cheek as she approached the charms classroom, which she hastily wiped away with the sleeve of her robes. She gave a tentative knock on the closed door and it sprang open. The students all seemed busy with their work and seemed not to notice her. Sara walked as quickly as she could, unnoticed, to the front of the room and gave Flitwick his scroll from Dumbledore. He read it.

"Very well," he said, "You may fetch Miss Lupin, then." Sara nodded, looking around to find her.

"Oy, Sara!" Sirius called from across the room. He was beaming as the rest turned to look at her in mild bewilderment. Sara walked over to them as if her legs were moving on their own.

"Rena," she said, her voice shaking. "I'm supposed to get you out of class." Rena, looking confused, stuffed her things into her bag, muttered a goodbye to the others and followed Sara out of the room.

"What is it?" she asked curiously, half jogging to keep up with Sara, who was walking unnaturally fast. She tried to speak for a moment, but her voice seemed to stick in her throat. She swallowed hard before trying again.

"Remus—" she began. "He—well, he's ill. In the hospital wing right now."

"But what—"

"Just go to the hospital wing, okay?" she said, her eyes watering like mad. "Dumbledore will fill you in when you get there. Go quickly…I've been told to go to class," another tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. She hoped that Rena hadn't noticed. "Go quickly," she repeated. "I'll see you later." The quickly distant sound of footsteps told her that Rena was gone. A powerful feeling of overwhelming guilt seemed to break through a dam in her chest as she bent down to gather her long-abandoned schoolbooks back in the entrance hall, and there was nothing left that she could do except sob.

* * *

Okay, so I know that the ending's kind of lame and depressing. The next chapter, I promise, is a lot more fun. Sara's secret will be told, and she'll find out about the guys being animagi.

And we can't forget about the ball! If you can guess who asks Sara or who she goes with, I'll give you 10 house points…of course, you have to specify the house you're in. Actually, I'll also give you 10 points if you can tell me where Sara will be for Christmas, though that won't be for a couple more chapters.

However, you MUST mention a house if you want the points!

Thanks for reading, guys!

Callista Rose


	11. Acceptance

DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I'm definitely gonna stop putting these in, they're a pain. You know what I mean, I've said it like 10 times before, so look at one of the other chapters.

On with the 11th installment…

* * *

Sit Vis Tecum—Chapter 11

* * *

The next week was the most miserable that Sara had spent since the deaths of her parents. She carefully avoided the Gryffindors that had become some of her first friends in the country; she knew that they would blame her for nearly killing Remus. Since the incident with the necklace had occurred, she hadn't spoken a word about it to anyone except for Professor Dumbledore. Some of her Ravenclaw friends had asked her about what had happened, but she held her silence.

Only a handful of people, Sara knew, actually knew the whole truth about what had happened to Remus that day. She constantly heard rumors flying in the hallway; rumors that he was clinging to life, that he had been transferred to St. Mungo's for further treatment, and the worst—which gave Sara the feeling of having recently swallowed several large and leaden snakes—that he had been withdrawn from Hogwarts school. She did not know which of these rumors were true, so she settled for simply ignoring them all.

During one particularly miserable lunchtime exactly one week after the incident had occurred, Sara was eating alone at the Ravenclaw table, her friends and most others either studying in the library ("The OWLs are drawing nearer every day!" Lisa squealed when Sara asked her why she insisted on spending every spare moment in the library) or at lessons. She had been pretending to read a _Hogwarts, a History_, but her eyes weren't moving as she absentmindedly mutilated her slice of spinach pie with her fork. She was so deep in thought that when someone came up behind her and tapped her shoulder, she jumped two feet into the air as her fork fell with a clatter onto her plate.

"Remus!" she exclaimed in both relief and surprise. Before she knew what she was doing, she had gotten to her feet and threw her arms around him. "Thank goodness! I thought—I thought…" He gave her a genuine smile, taking a seat behind her at the table.

"Well," he said, holding out his arms, "here I am, in one piece and as well as I can hope for, thanks to you." A look of bewilderment settled on Sara's face.

"_Thanks_ to me?" she asked, shocked. "This whole thing was _because _of me." Remus shook his head.

"No, it wasn't," he said firmly. "I know that you think it was all your fault, at least, that's what everyone else is saying. Sirius and James said that you've stopped sitting with them in classes and at mealtimes, Lily told me that you've stopped talking to them altogether, and Rena has been trying to catch your eye all week, but you haven't even been looking at them." Sara shrugged, stuffing a bit of pie into her mouth so she wouldn't have to speak. Remus sighed again. "Look, Sara, this wasn't your fault. I should have thought before I even picked that necklace up. None of the others blame you, and I'm certainly not accusing you of anything except being a good friend."

"What?" she exclaimed, but Remus continued.

"I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't realized—if you hadn't knocked it out of my hand or gotten me to the hospital as quickly as you did, or if you hadn't been able to get into Dumbledore's office…" his voice trailed off as he shuddered. He looked at her with a sudden interest. "How _did_ you know that I was, well, a werewolf?" She shrugged, swallowing her food.

"Well, you're always ill at the full moon, that lame 'visiting my sick mother' thing wasn't a great excuse. And then there was your nickname, Moony, and how James talked about your 'furry little problem.' I will admit, though, I thought at first that you owned a strange pet when he kept saying that." Remus laughed and nodded.

"Yes, a lot of people think that, actually," he said, helping himself to a goblet of pumpkin juice while Sara quickly finished her lunch.

"So what actually happened last week? I've been hearing all sorts of crazy rumors…" Remus looked amused.

"What sorts of rumors?"

"I don't know, like that you were nearly dead, at St. Mungos, and some people were saying that you had been withdrawn from the school because you had a terminal illness. Of course, none of them actually knew what happened," she added, "but I wasn't sure if any of the other stuff was true."

"Well," he began with a hint of laughter in his face and voice. "I don't know if you'd say 'nearly dead,' but I wasn't exactly at my best, either. I did get transferred to St. Mungos because they didn't have the treatments that I needed here. From the fact that I'm here now, it's pretty safe to say that I haven't been withdrawn." Sara laughed with relief and Remus smiled back at her. She knew that everything was understood between them, and knowing that lifted a huge weight off of her chest, and she felt lighter as she gathered up her things.

"Where is everyone else?" she asked him, glancing around at the Gryffindor table.

"They're in the common room," he said, standing up and walking with her out of the Great Hall. "I just came down to talk to you before we go out to Herbology. What do you have next?"

"History of Magic," she said, the two of them setting off up the stairs. "I should actually go and get my things, the class is only in half an hour." Remus laughed.

"Haven't you been here long enough to not get lost?" Sara rolled her eyes, smiling.

"Yes, I think so, but I also told my friend Paige that I'd meet her to help her study a few minutes before class." He nodded.

"Oh, okay, that makes sense." To Sara's surprise, he walked with her all the way up the bronze statue that guarded the Ravenclaw common room.

"Thanks for walking me up," Sara said, preparing to go through the passageway to her dormitory.

"No problem, I'm glad that you're back with us again. See you in Transfiguration later," he smiled, turning and walking back down the corridor. Sara beamed to herself, elated that Remus was back and nobody blamed her for what happened.

Transfiguration that day was a happier affair than usual, and she resumed her usual schedule of sitting with the Ravenclaws half of the time and the Gryffindors for the last half (on the pretense, of course, that she was helping them to learn the lesson, which Professor McGonagall accepted as an excuse). Finishing most of her homework in the library after class, she went down to dinner with a light heart.

She had no sooner entered the Great Hall than heard a small chorus of voices calling her name at the Gryffindor table. She found her way toward them and found a seat between Remus and Lily, greeting them and helping herself to fish and chips.

"So, O'Hanlon," Sirius said, his mouth full of Yorkshire pudding, "how does it feel to return from exile?" Sara frowned.

"I was never in exile," she said, which achieved the reaction of everyone else staring at her with their eyebrows raised doubtfully. "Not really," she mumbled, adding salt to the chips.

"Oh, come _on_!" James exclaimed with his mouth partially full, resulting in bits of whatever he was chewing being sprayed at Rena, who had been sitting next to him and who wasted no time in punching his arm and snatching up a napkin from off of the table. "Of course you were! Why else would you miss eating with us like you usually do?"

"I dunno," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I guess I just thought—"

"—that we'd blame you for what happened and would never want to talk to you again? Yeah, we figured that much out," Rena said calmly. She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm just really glad that you realized—you know—when you did, before it was too late."

"Well, she is in Ravenclaw—she was gonna figure it out eventually," Peter pointed out before stuffing half a roll into his mouth.

"True, I guess, Sara, that it was partly our fault for not telling anything sooner. I guess," Rena continued, "that we just wanted to make sure that you didn't rat out on us, you know, and go telling everyone." Sara was appalled at this, but tried to keep her body language to a minimum.

"I wouldn't do that, I'd never do that!"

"We know that now, and we had that feeling earlier, but we needed to be absolutely sure," Lily said, resting her fork and knife on her plate. "After Dumbledore told us what happened, we got the proof we needed."

"Please don't hate us," Sirius said, actually looking concerned. Sara felt her expression soften.

"I don't hate you," she said, smiling. "I don't think I could ever hate you, and to be honest, it never crossed my mind to tell anyone about Remus' 'furry little problem,' as James so eloquently puts it."

"Sara, please do me a favor," Sirius asked, looking up from his food.

"What?"

"Stop using big words." Lily and Sara laughed. Finishing his food, Peter stood from the table so suddenly that his leg kicked the table, rattling its contents. He gave them a hurried apology and muttered something about a tutoring session.

The mood lightened considerably after that, but Sara was still feeling a bit uneasy. They felt she was trustworthy, had confided their secrets to her. Not willingly, really, but the fact that they weren't going around threatening to hex her if she told anyone certainly said something about the level of trust that they placed in her. So if they trusted her, why couldn't she confide in them? Why couldn't she tell them about the burden she'd been carrying since she arrived in England? It didn't make sense…

"Earth to O'Hanlon," Sirius said loudly, waving his hand in front of her yes. Sara's attention quickly snapped back.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, you just looked like you were out of it for a minute." Sara nodded silently. If she told them, she'd feel better; after all, it was better sooner than later.

"Guys," she blurted out suddenly, shifting in her seat and looking up at them.

"What's up?" Lily asked, suddenly looking concerned.

"I know this is kind of random," she said, taking a deep breath, "but I feel like I need to tell you, you know, after what happened with Remus. It's not as important, but you deserve to know the truth." Every one of their eyes turned to her; they seemed to realize that this was important. Before she began, she thought, for a split second, of just saying never mind and not telling them anything at all.

But really, she thought, what was the point of keeping a secret from them? She'd do a lot better just to get it out and off of her chest, tell them everything and get it over with. Sara had known these guys for more than a month; hadn't they taken her in and treated her like one of their own, even if she was in Ravenclaw and they, Gryffindor? They had been great friends, and she didn't think it likely that they would shun her if she told them the truth, the truth about why she had come here, to England, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"The truth about what, Sara?" Lily asked in a gentle voice. Nobody else seemed to dare to make a sound.

"Why I'm here, about why I had to leave the States." Without warning, thinking about the incident brought a burning lump into her throat that wouldn't disappear, even after she swallowed hard.

But it was now or never.

"I thought you said that your dad had a job transfer," Sirius said, alarmed. There was a thud; Rena seemed to have kicked him under the table, then turned to look at Sara with concerned eyes. Sara shook her head.

"No," she said. "My parents—" her voice became shaky without warning and her eyes began to involuntarily shimmer with tears, "My parents died last July." There, she had said it. A tear fell into her lap and she quickly wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robes.

The rest of them were sitting in a shocked silence. Sara swallowed hard and shrugged.

"It was stupid…I mean, I guess I'm overreacting," she began, starting to make a hasty apology and stopping suddenly, another tear dropping into her lap. This is not how it was supposed to go; she wasn't supposed to break down in front of her friends. She felt a comforting arm around her shoulders as Lily pulled her into a sort of sideways hug, and Remus lay a comforting hand on her arm.

"Sara," Lily said quietly, looking shocked and appalled, her eyes full of pity and concern. "It's not stupid at all. Losing one parent would be terrible, but both—that's unfathomable." Sara sniffed and nodded. She knew how right Lily was and she was grateful for the comfort.

She noticed that Sirius was starting to open his mouth to ask a question when he received a sharp jab in the ribs from Rena, who muttered something about being insensitive; both fell silent once more.

"Their car was hit by a semi, an 18-wheeler," she continued with great difficulty, her voice still shaky. "The guy driving was drunk, blood alcohol nearly five times the legal limit. There was nothing that the paramedics could do." She kept her head down as the burning lump in her throat seemed to grow larger.

"You don't have to tell us any more," James said as soothingly as he could. Sara shook her head, but she knew that she needed to keep going, to finish what she had started.

"The police came to my house late that night. I kn-knew that something was wrong the minute that I s-saw them, when they took off their c-c-caps out of respect," she pushed on in her explanation, knowing that though it was difficult now, she would feel better once she had relived the incident. She covered her face with her hands, unable to look at them.

"Ariana was there with me," she said, speaking through her fingers and causing her voice to sound strangely muffled. "I was scared, but I knew that no matter what happened, she would be there. I f-found out later that I was wrong," she sniffled and she felt someone offer her a tissue, which she took gratefully and crumpled in her left hand after dabbing her eyes.

"Sara," Remus said quietly, his voice almost inaudible though the concern in it was certain. "You really don't have to say any more if it's making you uncomfortable. We understand."

"No," she said shakily but firmly. "I'll feel better if I do, and you will know the whole truth." And she did; Sara told her friends everything, from the officers coming to her door, to packing and coming to England for the first time. After she had finished, she found that they were all looking at her with expressions mixed with alarm and pity, but the looks of pity on their faces weren't like those that she usually faced. In fact, these were gentler looks of understanding, of shared sorrow, as if they were helping to share her pain.

"But why didn't you tell us all this when you met us?" Sirius asked in bewilderment. Sara shrugged, taking a calming sip of tea that someone had set in front of her.

"Because I hated the pity that I got in the States, and I didn't want people to be my friend just because they felt sorry for me." He nodded, understanding. "Besides, I really didn't know you very well, and I guess it was something I liked to keep to myself."

"That makes sense, I guess." Sara looked around at them all again; Lily still had her arm around Sara's shoulders, and Remus and Rena looked like they wanted to hug her. She smiled. They were true friends, and she was glad.

"Have you told your other friends this?" James asked, nodding in the direction of the Ravenclaw table. Sara shook her head.

"Nah, my relationship with them isn't quite there yet. They still look amazed with every bit of magic that I do, even if it's second-year stuff. It gets really annoying after a while." She smiled a little, and Sirius actually laughed. Lily hugged Sara again and took her arm off of her shoulder.

"Wow," Rena said, still looking stricken. "So when you told Arabella that you understood more than she knew—wow."

"And I was wondering why it was your grandparents who took you to Platform 9 ¾," James said sympathetically. "I wasn't expecting that, though."

"Yep," Sara said, trying to sound nonchalant about it. "So we were all happy and I had to go and be depressing again." She gave a strange, dry laugh.

"No, it's okay," Rena said comfortingly. "We're glad you told us. It certainly took a lot of courage to relive that sort of memory."

"You should have been in Gryffindor," Sirius said, nodding to himself as if confirming his own thoughts.

"I almost was," Sara said glumly. "I mean, back at Beaumore, I _was_ in Gryffindor—I mean, Andromeda; that was the sort-of Gryffindor equivalent, anyways."

"But then, why--?"

"The Sorting Hat didn't feel that I was up to the challenge, I guess," she said, shrugging. "It said that my parents' deaths had hampered my courage, or something."

"That sucks," James said, and he sounded like he truly meant it.

"It's okay," Sirius said, helping himself to a dish of apricot crumble. "You can be an honorary Gryffindor."

"_Our _honorary Gryffindor!" Rena chimed in, laughing.

" Okay, then" James said, his voice taking on an air of nobility and superiority. He held up the large silver spoon that had been in a tureen of Yorkshire pudding, tapped it with his wand so that it shone clean, and held it like a saber. "I, James Potter, Prongs of the Marauders, here with Sirius Padfoot Black and Remus Moony Lupin and in the absence of Peter Wormtail Pettigrew (we can pretend like he's here), as well as the beautiful and noble Lily Evans and Rena Lupin, hereby bestow upon you, Sara O'Hanlon, the official and noble title of Honorary Member of Gryffindor House." Sara, going along with it, bowed her head and James touched each of her shoulders once with the spoon, resisting the strong urge to laugh.

"You may rise," Sirius and Remus said together, grinning at one another.

"And now, may I present to all who have witnessed this event," James continued in the same pompous tone. "Miss Sara O'Hanlon, Honorary Member of Gryffindor House!" She lifted her head, smiling, as Remus and Sirius both gave enthusiastic applause. James replaced the spoon in the tureen with a dignified air and sat at his seat again. Sara laughed with Lily and Rena.

"Why thank you, Sirs Prongs, Moony, and Padfoot," she said, taking on a similar air as the one James had had moments before. "I don't think that I've ever been knighted by a spoon before."

"You guys are crazy," Rena said, polishing off a dish of crumble.

"And proud of it, babe!" Sirius said, smirking at her. This earned him a kick under the table.

"I swear, Padfoot, if you ever call me 'babe' again, I'll—"

"You'll what?" he smiled with a false sort of sweetness.

"You still haven't answered my question from before, Sirius," Rena said pointedly.

"Which was—?"

"Do you want to be buried or cremated?"

Several days after Sara was dubbed an honorary Gryffindor, James and Sirius decided that they needed to do something to celebrate the occasion. One particular breakfast as they sat munching on sausage and toast, James asked Sara if she had brought a swimsuit to Hogwarts with her.

"No," she answered, puzzled. "Were we supposed to?" Sirius and James exchanged glances of mock disappointed.

"You know," Sirius said, "you should always be prepared."

"For what?"

"You'll see," James said, helping himself to a kipper. Sara grimaced; she had never really gotten used to the little fish gracing the breakfast table. He made a point of ignoring her disgust. "Just make sure that you write back to your grandparents as soon as possible, and get them to send swimwear back to you here. Then we can have some fun." Sara looked at Lily questioningly; one look back told her that she knew about the plans, but was not going to reveal anything.

"You'll see," she said, repeating James' words.

"It's going to be a ton of fun," Rena said, grinning. "We've all been doing this for a while, since the second year, at least, when we found out the password…"

"The password to what?" Sara asked with interest. She wasn't sure what they were talking about, but she was already making silent plans to draft the letter in History of Magic; she had given up trying to understand what Binns was saying, and simply tried to resist the soporific power of his voice.

"Nothing, nothing," Sirius said with an air of superiority. "You'll find out soon enough."

As it turned out, she didn't have to wait long. The package from her grandparents that Sara had been awaiting arrived speedily in the mail the following morning.

"Excellent," said James in response. "We'll do it tonight, then, since tomorrow is the weekend. Sara, meet us outside of the Gryffindor common room at 10:30 tonight. Make sure you wear that swimming suit—it's important."

And so she set off from Ravenclaw tower at a quarter after ten that evening, dressed in jeans and a sweater, her bathing suit concealed underneath. Halfway to the portrait of the Fat Lady, she began to wonder whether she should have brought a towel, especially if they would be swimming. This worry was quickly pushed from her mind, however, when she approached the portrait hole and found the Marauders and Company waiting outside for her, not a towel in sight. Sirius, however, clutched a worn piece of parchment in his hand and James had a silvery cloak slung over his shoulder. This, she knew, had to be the invisibility cloak that she had heard so much about.

"Wotcher, Sara," Sirius said excitedly.

"Hey," she said, greeting them all. The seven of them gathered into a circle.

"Right," James said, giving instructions. "So here's what we're going to do. Lils, you're going to go down first, and make sure that the door's open for us. Sara, Rena, and Peter are going to wear the cloak, since they really aren't supposed to be there, anyways; Padfoot's going to lead them, since he has the map. Then Remus and I are going to come at the rear. We should probably do this quickly, so Lily, you're up."

"Yep, I'm on it," she said, snapping into a salute and, smiling, turned and retreated down the corridor. A few minutes later, Sirius whispered, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," and tapped the piece of parchment with his wand.

"Right," he said as James tossed Peter the invisibility cloak. "You three go on, and follow Sirius. I know it'll be a bit crowded, but try—"

"Not to make noise," Rena finished for him. "Duh, James, we know."

"Come on, Sara," Peter said in a squeaky little voice, and Sara gathered close to Rena as Peter tossed the cloak over them. Sirius checked the parchment before turning to look behind him and nodded (though his nod seemed to go over their heads by a few inches).

"Okay, guys, follow me," he said, and turned on his heel with the parchment held out in front of him in one hand, wand at the ready in the other.

It was slow going at first, trying to move crowded between Rena (which really didn't bother her) and Peter (who, for some reason, gave her the creeps) while struggling to keep the invisibility cloak over them. As Sirius led them down three flights of stairs, he had so pause, pretending to examine a tapestry or suit of armor while waiting for them to catch up. After several minutes of this, they arrived in a corridor on the fourth floor, where Sirius seemed to count the doors. When they got to the fourth one, he leaned in close.

"Squeaky clean," he said in a low voice. This must have been a password, since the door immediately creaked open. Sirius pulled the door wide and stepped into the room, allowing Rena, Sara, and Peter to follow. Once Sirius closed the door behind them, Rena pulled off the cloak and began to fold it neatly.

At first Sara wondered where she was. She was standing at the entry to a large room that appeared to be built entirely of white marble. Against one wall, she could see the golden doors to three oversized shower stalls and sinks. The place was lit entirely by what appeared to be large, luminescent bubbles that hovered overhead. In one corner, there was a very large stack of fluffy white towels, and a painting of a blond mermaid asleep on a rock in the sea hung at the far end of the room.

In the center, she saw what appeared to be a very long, sunken rectangle about 18 feet long and 35 feet wide; it was the size of a large swimming pool. The edges of the pool were line with many golden taps, each with a differently colored jewel set into the handle. It was a moment before she realized that Lily was nowhere to be seen. She turned to Rena to ask her this, but she was quickly ushered into one of the large shower stalls. Rena latched the door after them, sitting on the marble seat in the shower.

"Why—?" Sara began in a whisper, but Rena pressed her finger to her lips.

"In our third year," she began in a low voice as Sara sat beside her. "This stupid Hufflepuff prefect walked in while the door was unlatched, and we were waiting for James to come up. He threatened a detention, and after that we all have a system. We hide in the stalls until James, and Remus come and bolt the door. After the door's locked, we have nothing to worry about. That's why we didn't see Lily when we came in; she is in the stall next to us, and Sirius and Peter are in the other one." Sara nodded in understanding.

"Where are we?"

"The prefects' bathroom," Rena said in an undertone. "Shhh…" she said suddenly, pressing her ear against the golden door. Sara also listened intently as she heard the door creak open. For several moments, she thought that somebody strange was in their presence. The lock on the door slid shut and clicked.

"You can come out now!" Remus called through the doors. Rena unlocked her door and Sara followed her out into the main part of the bathroom; from the left, Peter and Sirius joined them and from the right, Lily emerged, shutting the door behind her. They congregated to one side of the swimming-pool-sized bathtub.

"Excellent," Sirius said eagerly. "Okay, on the count of three, everybody find a tap. One—" They rushed to the side of the pool, dispersing equally around it.

"Two—" Sara rested her hands on taps with blood red and pale blue jewels set into them.

"Three!" Everyone turned their taps, releasing a quantity of water, perfumed clouds and bubbles of all shapes, sizes and densities into the bathtub. There was a lot of laughter, and Sara was fascinated by the effects of each tap. The whole pool was filled in a surprisingly short time, complete with a shocking quantity of foam and bubbles on the surface of the water.

She felt so much time admiring the bathroom that she hardly noticed that Sirius, Remus, and James were already stripped to their bathing suits, which looked a lot like Muggle swimming shorts. Peter fell over as he tripped over his trousers at the ankles, and the four Marauders had a good laugh.

"Come on, Sara," Rena said. Sara turned to find her wearing a scarlet bikini, folding her discarded clothing neatly. Lily, too, was folding her trousers, clad now in a navy blue suit with baby blue accents. Sara smiled and removed her shoes, socks, sweater and jeans and arranged them neatly on the floor, revealing her own sea-green bathing suit. The Gryffindors began to assemble themselves in a line on the six-foot-deep end of the tub. Sara followed, taking a place between Rena and James. They began to link hands, and she followed suit.

"Okay," Lily said from the other side of James. "Now that we are all gathered here--"

"—Let the semi-annual midnight swim commence on—"Remus continued from beside Lily

"One!" Rena shouted spiritedly, squeezing Sara's hand and beaming excitedly at her.

"Two!" James called at the top of voice, also squeezing Sara's hand and Lily's as well.

"Three!" Peter's turn to scream this time.

"Geronimo!" Sirius shouted as loudly as he could as they all leapt off the marble floor and into the pool of water, hands still linked. When they hit the water, they broke apart. Sara plunged below the foamy surface into the pleasantly warm water. Feeling her feet touch the bottom, she sprang up again, breaking through the surface of the water with a grin on her face; Rena and Remus were racing each other from one end of the long pool to the other, Peter, Lily and James were splashing each other, and Sirius came swimming over to Sara when she emerged, grinning broadly.

"So what do you think?" he asked, shaking his head free of excess water.

"It's brilliant," she said honestly, beaming. He smiled back, looking pleased as he ducked under the water and pushed off of the side, speeding toward the opposite end and reemerging with his hair coated with a thick pink foam.

"Nice hair, Sirius," James said; Lily took advantage of the momentary lapse of concentration to pelt him with an equally flattering amount of foam. Sirius laughed and James hit him with the thick pink bubbles again. Soon the air was thick with flying foam, and after a minute every head was coated with pink bubbles and they were laughing hysterically at one another.

Two hours passed with ease as they raced, splashed, played games and just generally goofed around, laughing their heads off until the water grew tepid. When Lily announced that it was nearly one o'clock in the morning, Sara was equally as shocked as everyone else. They quickly dried themselves and redressed, draining the tub and throwing the now-damp towels into the hamper in the corner.

They walked back in a different fashion than they came in, since it was now past curfew and they didn't want to risk Sara getting caught out of bed.

"Don't worry about it," Lily said. "We don't want you to get detention on our account. Plus, as long as we have the map, we know enough secret passages that we'll be okay." Sara was unconvinced.

"How will I get the cloak back to you without someone noticing?" This was met with silence, then—

"I'll take you," Sirius volunteered. "I'll walk with you under the cloak so you don't get lost," he smirked, and Sara rolled her eyes, though she knew that it was true: she still got lost rather easily inside of the castle. "Then I can just meet everyone else back in Gryffindor Tower."

Sirius' plan was quickly agreed upon, and several silent minutes later the two of them had arrived at the entrance to the Ravenclaw dormitories.

'It's been cool, O'Hanlon," he said as she ducked out from under the cloak.

"Likewise," she smiled. "See you around, then."

"Definitely." And he disappeared from view under the cloak.

"Gobbledegook," Sara told the statue, which immediately leapt aside. She ducked into the passageway and emerged into the Ravenclaw common room. She was surprised to find nearly the entire Ravenclaw fifth year sitting around the dying fire, waiting for her.

* * *

Okay, that seems like a good enough place to leave off. It was a nice long chapter, and I hope that you enjoyed it.

The next will be up eventually. Any ideas for who Sara should be going to the ball with? I've got two or three ideas, and depending on who it is could change the drift of the story a little.

But the mystery still remains: why on earth is Lily using a fake last name?

You'll have to read to find out.

Don't forget to review and tell me what you think.

Callista Rose


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